


Memento Mori

by grammarKamikaze



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: But you don't need to have played the game to understand it, Karasuno is S.E.E.S., M/M, Persona 3 AU, Unbeta'd, or be hinted at, other pairings may show up, this was a spur of the moment thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:37:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2525873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grammarKamikaze/pseuds/grammarKamikaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Remember that you will die. Remember your death."</p><p>--</p><p>Hinata Shouyou wanted to join the volleyball club. Really, that's all he wanted.</p><p>[ON HIATUS until I replay Persona 3 and get more inspiration.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 04.07 - Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an AU based on the events of the Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 videogame. I'm planning to write it bearing in mind that the people reading it might've never played the game, or even heard about it, but I still do apologize if the beginning is a bit confusing. I promise I'll try my hardest to keep everything as clear as possible.
> 
> I dedicate this to my boyfriend because even though I don't remember how we came up with the P3 AU, he was there when it happened, so yeah. Shout out to Mr. Kamikaze.
> 
> Also, first fanfiction piece I write after years of focusing on original stuff. And first fic on AO3. Go me!

The soft rustling of the rails underneath his feet was muffled by the humming of upbeat pop music in his ears. The portable music player, with its bright orange headphones, had been a last-minute present from his mother – _for the long journey_ , she’d told him, _so you won’t be too bored!_ – and the music selection was very obviously the work of his little sister, and he probably wouldn’t have picked half the songs on his playlist but it still made him smile inwardly to think they had done all that just for him. All his life it had been the three of them, always sticking together and looking after each other, and his heart sunk a little whenever he realized he would be living so far away from them for a long time, leaving them alone at home. He just hoped he’d have time to visit them really soon.

Hinata Shouyou had never been outside his quiet little hometown in the mountains, let alone outside the prefecture, but there was a reason for his decision; he’d been admitted into the school he’d wanted to go to since he was a child. From the next morning on, and for the next three years, he would be attending Karasuno High School. He couldn’t be more excited.

Located in Iwatodai City, Karasuno was renowned for being a powerhouse for young athletes. Or at least, it had been, some years before, but Hinata wasn’t too worried about that. From the moment when, as a child, he’d seen Karasuno’s volleyball team – and their ace, the Little Giant – on TV, he’d wanted to be there. He’d trained as hard as he could – he’d been the only member in his middle school’s boys’ volleyball club, but he’d still managed – and studied twice as hard, and he’d finally made it. Being apart from his family and friends would be difficult, he knew, but it would be worth it to pursue his dream of standing on the same court as the Little Giant had.

But first, he had to get to the station, and then to the dorms where he would be staying temporarily, until he was assigned a place at the school’s boys’ dorms. The trip there had been long, uncomfortable and full of delays, and he would’ve gladly gotten off the train in the middle of nowhere just to be able to _breathe_ , but he was still excited. Staying in a dorm with other boys, making new friends, exploring the city, joining the volleyball club – it was all worth the trouble. However, when a soft female voice finally announced their imminent arrival at Iwatodai Station, he still let out a gleeful cry, and a sleepy boy sitting in front of him sent him a nasty glare. They were the only two people in the car besides a middle-aged businessman dozing a few seats away from Hinata, heavy black suitcase on his lap. Hinata felt kind of bad for him; it had probably been a rough day for all of them, even for the sleepy boy with the scary dark eyes.

After a few more minutes the train finally, smoothly slid to a stop and the doors opened silently, revealing a very well-lit, modern-looking terminal building. So this was Iwatodai Station. Despite feeling tired and stiff from sitting for so long, Hinata still jumped to his feet and rushed out of the car, warm brown eyes open wide, taking everything in while his bag dangled heavily from his left shoulder. He was finally here, after waiting for so long. This year, he would make all of his dreams finally come true.

And then, all of a sudden, as if someone had switched the world around him off, all the lights went out. The music died in his ears, the female singer’s voice fading out until nothing was heard. He pulled the headphones off and checked the little screen on his music player; it was blank. Had the batteries ran out? Feeling a little unnerved at being shrouded in silence and darkness, suddenly realizing he was in a new place where he didn’t know anyone – and probably nobody would care to help him – he slowly turned around, looking for the other two people in the car. Maybe the three of them could find their way out of the station more effectively?

The train hadn’t left yet, probably because of the blackout. The doors remained opened and the inside of the car looked rather eerie. Unconsciously he tried to be as quiet as possible as he tiptoed his way to the doors, as if expecting something would pounce on him from the shadows. What he saw as he peeked into the car, however, was far more terrifying, and nothing could’ve prepared him for the sight of it.

From what little he could make out, there were dark stains on the floor and seats that looked suspiciously like blood. The sleepy dark-eyed boy was nowhere to be seen, but in the spot where the businessman had been dozing off, with his suitcase on his lap – glowing a soft purple and red, right where the sleeping businessman had been – there was a single tall, dark coffin.

Hinata screamed. The high-pitched sound bounced off the walls and echoed across the terminal building as though it were the only sound in there – as though he was _completely, utterly alone_ , and he began breathing heavily. Breaking into a cold sweat, he pulled away from the doors, from the morbid spectacle of the coffin and the bloodstains, his heart racing and tears prickling behind his eyelids as he shut his eyes tightly.

 _This isn’t happening_ , he told himself. _I’m still home. This is a nightmare._ He’d had those before; unpleasant dreams in which he found he hadn’t really been accepted into Karasuno High School after all, or he had forgotten all his clothes at home and had nothing to wear, or he wasn’t allowed into the dorms and was forced to sleep out in a dark alleyway. It was just nervousness from having to move away from the place he’d grown up in. _You’ll be fine. Just wake up._

The silence was deafening around him. He trembled, not daring to open his eyes just yet. The dream still hadn’t ended.

“Hey!”

The sudden yell, amidst the incredibly deep silence of the empty building, made him wince so violently he wobbled and fell to his knees, and he was positive that, had he had anything to drink in the past six hours, he would’ve definitely peed his pants in shock and fear. He heard footsteps coming up to him and, trembling from head to toe, he slowly slipped his eyes open. In the darkness, he could make out the shape of two feet right in front of him, clad in black and white trainers. Blinking, he raised his head, looking up at the tall figure looming over his kneeling form.

It was the sleepy boy from before; he looked much taller when he was standing up. His hair was short, black and perfectly straight, and he had a dark expression on his face, as if he were angry for some reason. His scowl didn’t help Hinata’s nerves at all. He almost wanted to rush back into the car with the coffin.

“What are you doing, you _dumbass_?” the black-haired boy asked, clicking his tongue at his confused expression. “Hurry up.”

And with that, the tall boy began walking briskly in a seemingly random direction. Whether he knew where he was going or not in the darkness was beyond Hinata, but suddenly following him seemed a far better idea than staying in that dark, empty building with the coffin, and so he clumsily crawled to his feet and chased after him.

He wanted to ask what was going on, but as they emerged from the terminal building and out into the street, he found himself rendered speechless, and he would’ve screamed but no sound came out and he simply opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of the water.

It was as though they had stepped out into a ghost town. Not one streetlight was on; the only light was provided by the unusually large, greenish-yellow moon overhead. Puddles of blood littered the pavement and there were at least a dozen coffins in sight, all glowing darkly – if that was even possible, but they were in Hinata’s eyes – some of them gathered together or paired up and Hinata couldn’t help but imagine they were – they _had been_ – groups of friends, or lovers taking a midnight stroll.

“Are they… dead?” he muttered, and after a few seconds of getting no answer, he started looking around frantically. The tall, dark-haired boy was up ahead, walking firmly amidst the coffins as if he didn’t notice them. Hinata began panicking as new and terrifying ideas crossed his mind. What if he was the only one who could see the coffins? What if they were all dead? What if the train had crashed or something? What if the sleepy dark-eyed boy had killed them all? Was he planning on killing Hinata, too?!

As he stood by the doors, undecided as to whether he should keep following the dark-haired boy or not, he thought he heard a voice. It was low and soft, a gentle inviting whisper, and he unconsciously leaned his head towards the sound. It was certainly more pleasant than the dark-haired boy’s harsh tone…

“Hurry up, dumbass!”

A shiver ran through Hinata’s body, and he jolted as though suddenly awoken from a deep sleep. He blinked a few times and looked ahead; the tall boy had stopped and turned towards him. He had been waiting for him, it seemed.

“Hurry up!” he insisted, seeing he’d finally managed to catch Hinata’s attention. “It’s dangerous out here!”

Those words got Hinata moving again, although he couldn’t quite shake the feeling the black-haired boy was _suspicious_ , as he obviously knew something about this whole phenomenon that Hinata didn’t, but following him was still the best choice he had, so he rushed after him, and they continued walking together down the dark, deserted – save for the coffins – streets. He was about to ask the other boy whether he knew what was going on, when he suddenly remembered the small map and directions he’d scribbled down before leaving home, so that he could get to Iwatodai Dorm from the station with no problem. Uncertain, he looked up at the unfazed boy next to him.

“Hey… I-I need to get to Iwatodai Dorm.”

The tall boy glanced at him sideways and nodded once.

“I guessed as much. I’m headed there as well.”

“Oh… Okay, then.”

But how could he have _guessed_ , Hinata thought to himself, growing more and more wary of the boy walking beside him as the minutes went by. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since the power was cut, for some reason. He missed the humming of upbeat girly music in his ears, too. He felt physically relieved when a familiar four-story brick building came in sight; he’d seen Iwatodai Dorm in pictures sent to him by a friendly senpai, and judging by the flicker of recognition on the taller boy’s face, he’d seen it as well. They headed there, a hint of uncertainty hanging between them, or at least that was how Hinata felt. He didn’t know what was happening around him, whether it was real or some sort of illusion, and he didn’t know whether he could trust the black-haired boy enough to voice his concern.

Hinata still let him be the one to knock on the door, and when they got no answer he let the taller boy push the door open as well and step inside first, Hinata following closely, but not too close, just in case he needed to flee. And he almost did, when they were greeted into the dark lobby by a tall, menacing young man standing at the foot of the stairs, looking at them down the barrel of a gun. His head was shaven and although he was wearing faded red shorts and a plain white T-shirt that was ripped under his right armpit, and a pair of fluffy pink sneakers, he still looked dangerous and threatening. Hinata gasped and quickly jumped behind the tall black-haired boy, who flinched a little bit but stood his ground, staring right into the eyes of the young man holding the gun.

“What is it with you two, little punks?” the man holding the gun growled. “You wanna die that badly?”

“N-No!” Hinata squeaked, and right then, with a low hum, the lights went on all around them, and the tall black-haired boy let out a soft relieved sigh. The man with the gun looked perplexed for a moment; quick footsteps resounded down the stairs, and a silver-haired boy in light blue pajamas showed up right behind the shaven young man.

“Tanaka! What are you doing?”

It was the threatening guy’s turn to flinch as the silver-haired boy scolded him. He was delicate and pretty, Hinata thought; he even had a small beauty mark under his left eye, but he still exuded a very distinct air of authority. He was probably an older student; did that mean the young boy with the gun was a student too? Now that the power was back, and they weren’t in darkness anymore, this Tanaka guy didn’t look as threatening. The gun didn’t even look real as he begrudgingly slipped it inside his T-shirt, its outline still visible against his stomach.

Hinata slowly stepped out of his hiding spot behind the tall black-haired guy as the pretty older student approached them. He was smiling in an endearing way, and Hinata found himself warming up to him instantly. He had a suspicion he’d been the nice senpai who’d sent them the pictures and directions to get to the dorm.

“Ah, welcome, you two! I was beginning to worry! I thought you’d make it here before midnight. Did you two have a good trip?”

“Yeah” the black-haired boy mumbled before Hinata had a chance to cry to the nice senpai about the coffins. “We’re okay” he added, and Hinata wondered what that was supposed to mean. That, and the nice senpai’s subtle nod.

“That’s good” and then his gently smiling face turned to Hinata. “We’re happy to have you here, even if it’s for a little time. I’m Sugawara Koushi, feel free to ask me anything you want to know.”

Hinata opened his mouth to ask about the strange things he’d seen during the blackout and why this Tanaka guy was holding a gun, when he realized he hadn’t even introduced himself, so he quickly bowed.

“I-I’m Hinata Shouyou!”

“Kageyama Tobio” the black-haired boy next to him bowed respectfully as well – so that was his name, Hinata thought, it was the first time he’d heard it, although he felt he’d spent quite a lot of time with him. “Sugawara-senpai, may I have a word with you?” Kageyama surprised him by asking then; his dark eyes were fixed on Sugawara’s own. Sugawara seemed surprised as well, but he quickly nodded and motioned towards one of the couches that were gathered around a table in the middle of the lobby.

“Sure, take a seat. Tanaka, would you mind showing Hinata his room? It’s the last one down the corridor, on the right.”

Hinata wanted to talk to Sugawara-senpai some more – and being alone with the guy who’d been pointing a gun at him only minutes ago made him nervous, and he kind of wished Kageyama would go with them, too – but he didn’t have a choice. Tanaka looked pretty pissed already, and he didn’t want to keep him waiting and run the risk of making him even more pissed, so he quickly followed him upstairs to the second floor.

“This is where first and second year boys are staying” Tanka explained; he seemed a bit disappointed about that. “The third years are on the first floor, and the girls on the third, but we’re not allowed up there anymore, so don’t try anything funny, okay?!”

“G-Got it” Hinata mumbled, wondering the hidden meaning behind that ‘anymore’. Whatever the reason for the ban, it was probably a valid one. Tanaka accompanied him to his door, and when they got there, he stood and stared at him for a moment, until Hinata began feeling anxious. Had he done something wrong? “W-What is it?”

Tanaka seemed to consider his words carefully for a moment before he leaned in closer, his eyes almost level with Hinata’s as he showed a genuinely _creepy_ grin.

“You didn’t see anything weird on your way here, did you, little one?” Tanaka asked, his voice every bit as menacing as his face. Hinata trembled; without Kageyama there, he had nowhere to hide, and thus he chose to play it safe and even though he was burning with questions, and feeling distrustful of everyone around him as they all seemed to know something he didn’t, he quickly shook his head no. “Good” Tanaka straightened up and ruffled Hinata’s hair somewhat forcefully before walking off towards the stairs again. “Goodnight, little one!”

Hinata didn’t think he would be able to sleep at all, but as soon as he set foot into his dark room, he felt his eyelids go heavy and all his strength left his body as he dropped his bag on the nearest available surface – a chair, he thought – and collapsed on the bed, not even caring to take off his clothes or tuck himself in properly before drifting off into a heavy slumber.


	2. 04.07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "To be more precise, we have a year."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Hinata visits a really fancy elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thanks everyone for the kudos, comments, hits, bookmarks, second glances at the title as you scrolled, anything and everything!
> 
> If you thought I couldn't make this more confusing, well... I honestly hope this isn't actually more confusing than the previous one...?

A slightly ominous piano tune resounded in the darkness, a melodious voice singing wordlessly along. Hinata couldn’t see anything; he looked around, but all that surrounded him was blackness and, for the second time in the span of a few hours, he felt lost and confused. He’d led the most normal life one can imagine up to that point in his life, up to that particular day; he’d had simple dreams, perhaps a bit too ambitious at times, but real. In reach. In sight. Ever since he’d stepped out of that train at Iwatodai Station and the clocks had struck midnight, however, it was as if he’d been teleported right into some kind of horror story and he couldn’t tell what was going on anymore, what was real, or if it had all been a dream and he was still on that train, on the way to his destination.

Something glittered ahead, catching his eye; a little blue light floating right before him. Eyes widening, he moved towards it on instinct, just like he had followed Kageyama during the power cut; because it was the only certain thing in an unknown world, the only thing he felt he could hold on to. Upon closed inspection, the floating light turned out to be a blue butterfly, fluttering beautifully right before his eyes. Hinata had never seen anything as beautiful and mysterious; in a trance, he reached his hand out to touch it, and the butterfly perched itself on his finger. It slowly batted its wings a few time and as Hinata observed it in fascination, a bright white light enveloped him for a moment, blinding him completely. He felt the tickling sensation of the butterfly’s little legs leaving his finger, and when he found himself able to open his eyes again, the scenery around him had changed quite dramatically.

The first thing he noticed was the background; it was moving fast, giving the illusion he was standing inside a large elevator – he could be, for all he knew. The room was blue all around; at the very back there were a bunch of doors, some of them covered by dark purple curtains, and at the center there was a desk with two chairs, one on each side. There were two other people in the room; a young man with spiky black hair was sitting behind the desk, watching him with mild interest over his interlaced fingers. He was wearing a black suit and tie and looked dignified for someone so young; he had a mysterious air to him, and Hinata was reminded of the glowing blue butterfly. This person gave him the same feeling. The other resident was a boy in a blue hoodie; he didn’t look much older than Hinata, and not much taller either. His straight shoulder-long hair was bleached blond, the dark roots showing as he stared down at his glowing cellphone with a bored expression. He eyed Hinata briefly, then continued to idly tap at his screen.

Hinata stared at the young man in the dark suit, who in turn stared back at him; a small smirk curved his lips then, and he gestured for Hinata to come closer.

“You’re our very first guest. Please, have a seat.”

It didn’t cross Hinata’s mind not to take up the offer; he walked up to the desk and sat down across the young man in the suit. When nobody spoke for a few seconds, and there was no sound but the ticking of the clock on the wall and the tap-tap-tapping of the blond boy’s cellphone, Hinata decided to ask, finally, the question that had been bugging him since he got off the train at Iwatodai Station.

“What’s going on here?”

The young man in the suit chuckled darkly.

“That’s a tricky question. Where is ‘here’?”

Hinata blinked a few times; that was right. ‘Here’ could mean anywhere. _Here_ in this blue room that seemed to ascend, ascend infinitely like a never-stopping elevator? _Here_ in Iwatodai, where coffins showed up where people had been once the lights went out, and the moon glowed eerily green and yellow in the sky? _Here_ in Iwatodai Dorm, where he and Kageyama had been greeted by a punk holding a gun?

The young man’s smirk widened, and Hinata knew he’d realized he didn’t know the answer.

“Let’s start _here_ , then” he gestured to the room around them, to the erratically moving clock on the wall behind them, to the aloof boy standing next to them. “This is the Velvet Room. It’s a place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. Or at least, that’s what we’ve been taught. In practice, it means it’s a place separate from your world, but not quite in an illusionary one, either. You’re not dreaming, but you’re not awake. It’s a separate thing entirely.”

“I don’t think I get it” Hinata admitted, tilting his head to the side. “It sounds really complicated.”

“It doesn’t make much of a difference anyway” the boy with the cellphone spoke then, startling Hinata even though his voice was barely above a mumble. He didn’t even look up from his phone as he shrugged. Hinata blinked a few times before turning his attention back to the young man in the dark suit.

“Well, he _does_ have a point” the young man raised his hands defensively. “Where we are doesn’t really matter to you. What’s important is the reason why you’re here. Not everyone can access the Velvet Room, you know; only people who have entered or are about to enter a contract can get here.”

“I-I didn’t sign anything” Hinata blurted out quickly; he didn’t understand what the young man meant by ‘contract’ but it sounded like something his mother should have a say in, not him. Besides, with all the strange things happening around him, he had the feeling writing his name down anywhere might’ve very well meant his death sentence. The young man seemed to consider his words for a moment, and then he sighed and reached for something under his desk.

“That’s why I’ll ask you to sign a contract with us, here and now.”

Hinata slowly shook his head as a sheet of paper and a pen were placed atop the desk, right in front of him. The word ‘contract’ at the top of the page made him cringe.

“No way” he mumbled.

“You should listen to what we have to say first” the boy with the cellphone finally looked up at Hinata. The room felt even quieter without the incessant tapping. The young man in the dark suit nodded his agreement.

“You must’ve noticed some unusual things since you arrived here, right?” he asked Hinata, who nodded quickly, without thinking. “And I’m afraid you’ve already had an encounter that has decided your destiny. So even if you choose to turn your back on this contract… Well, you’re already screwed anyway.”

Hinata didn’t like the sound of that at all; but he didn’t think he’d forget about the blackout and the coffins and the yellow moon anytime soon. If that wasn’t a life-changing experience, then he didn’t know what was. And the young man in the suit had mentioned an ‘encounter’ that had sealed his destiny; immediately, Hinata thought of Kageyama, the seemingly harmless sleepy boy who had suddenly appeared much more threatening and mysterious as he walked amidst the coffins without batting an eyelash. That person… He’d known there was something about him from the start. But what was that _something_? How would his encounter with Kageyama change his life?

“If you want to know, you should probably ask him.”

Hinata gasped audibly and looked up at the boy with the cellphone that had just replied to his thoughts. The blond boy was smiling gently at him; he seemed somewhat amused, less disinterested.

“I bet he’s also the reason why you’re here now, since you don’t have any special abilities at all” he shrugged, and went back to fiddling with his phone. His little amused smile was still on his face, though, as if he were laughing at a joke only he knew. Hinata wondered whether he should’ve taken that as an insult, but the young man in the suit interrupted his thoughts.

“True. But if you’re here, then it means you’re the right person for the job, otherwise the Room wouldn’t have bothered with you” the young man’s thoughtful expression became serious as he stared at Hinata. “I will tell you the terms of our contract. Then you will have the choice to accept them or refuse, but remember: your fate has already been decided.”

“An evil plan has been set into motion” the blond boy spoke; he sounded as though he was reciting something he’d learnt by heart. Or maybe he was reading something on his phone? “The desire to bring destruction upon humanity is growing stronger; if it is not stopped, the world as you know it will perish, along with its inhabitants. At least, that’s what I know” and the boy looked back up towards Hinata, the cellphone screen going dark. As Hinata had suspected, he’d been reading something on the screen. “We’re still figuring out what it means exactly.”

“But we don’t have much time” the young man in the dark suit grimaced slightly. “To be more precise, we have a year.”

“A year?” Hinata was amazed at the precision of the deadline, when everything else seemed ethereal and confusing. The young man nodded, giving Hinata a strange, intense look whose meaning he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“And the one destined to put an end to it is you. That’s the only explanation to your presence here. If you sign this contract” and long fingers pushed the paper towards Hinata a little bit, “you’ll be accepting the burden of carrying out your destiny. You will be accepting full responsibility for your actions and the decisions you make. In turn, the both of us will vow to assist you as much as we can to make sure you’re successful.”

“Of course, you can say no” the boy with the cellphone was still staring at Hinata. “But if you do, the world will end in less than a year anyway. So I’d give it a shot.”

“Agreed” the young man in the dark suit nodded lightly. “Whether you accept or not, the events will take place anyway. So if I were you, I’d try to do something about it. You’re on the right track anyway, so why not push a little further? We’ll help you.”

“We’re new to the Velvet Room too” the blond boy admitted, checking his phone briefly. “But we’ll do our best. So, will you?”

Hinata stared at each of them for a moment, and then looked down at the paper. A contract that would place the burden of stopping the end of the world upon his tiny shoulders; surely nobody would want that, but what if it was true? What if he was the only one who could do something to stop it? He thought of his mother, of his little sister, of all the people in the world; would they just die _unless_ he decided to do something about it? Did he really have the power to save _everyone_? If he failed, the world would end. And if he refused to sign, the world would end, anyway. The only possible scenario in which the world was saved was if he signed the contract and was successful.

It was better to try than to regret. He’d told himself so many times, when anxiety overcame him; what if he was terrible at volleyball, what if he didn’t get into Karasuno, what if he didn’t make friends at this new place away from home. He’d had all those doubts and he’d told himself well, I’ll regret it more if I don’t try, at least. With that thought in mind, and a newfound feeling of bravery burning in his chest, he picked up the pen.

_Hinata Shouyou._

The young man in the dark suit picked up the paper and pen and eyed the signature satisfactorily before setting it down on the desk again, facing Hinata with a malice-free smirk.

“You made the right choice, Hinata Shouyou. We’re happy you accepted. I’m Kuroo, and this is my assistant, Kenma” he gestured towards the blond boy, who was back to tapping on his cellphone. “Like he said, we’re new to this too, but we’ll help you as much as we can. I’m sure you’ll find your way just fine, though; it’s your destiny after all. Hold on to this.”

Hinata’s eyes widened as a blue light appeared between them; for a moment, he thought the glowing butterfly was back, but as the glowing ball of light descended towards his hands, he realized it was a key; a blue key, with a cute little keychain in the shape of a sitting black cat. A similar cat dangled from Kenma’s phone strap, he noticed; Kuroo and Kenma. They were strange, mysterious, but he could sense they weren’t evil. He didn’t regret the choice he’d made.

“With the Velvet Key, you can come visit us whenever you want. We’ll inform you of anything we find, okay? And if you just want to hang out, that’s fine too, this place is boring as fuck. But, Hinata” and Kuroo’s face turned serious again. “Remember, this is your destiny. Keep going forward, okay? Go with your instinct. You’ll know what to do.”

“Good luck, Shouyou” Kenma looked towards him with a smile. “Keep close to that person, okay?”

Hinata barely had time to nod begrudgingly at those words – he didn’t want to be around Kageyama too much, he was scary and unpleasant and kept calling him _dumbass_ – before the room melted back into blinding white light. Hinata thought he saw a blue butterfly flutter past him out the corner of his eye.

The rest of his night was blissfully dreamless.

He woke up in the morning to bright sunlight streaming in through the window and the sound of someone knocking on his door and Kageyama’s voice yelling his name on the other side – and the alarming certainty that the Velvet Room had been no dream at all. He’d really been there. He just knew it; and if he didn’t, then the blue key resting on the pillow next to his head was proof enough.

“Hey, Hinata! Are you awake yet?”

“Y-Yeah!” he drowsily called back, sitting up. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around, blinking. He hardly recognized his room, but that was no surprise; it was his first morning there and he’d fallen asleep almost instantly the night before, so he hadn’t had much time to look around. He had a bed, a chair, a desk with a computer, a small wardrobe, a small fridge and a sink with a mirror hanging above. It was larger than his room at home, and that was cool. He quickly began getting ready for school, while Kageyama fumed on the other side of the door.

“Are you ready yet? C’mon, Hinata! Tanaka-san said he’ll escort us to school, since it’s our first day and all.”

Not wanting to keep Tanaka waiting, as he was scary enough without being mad specifically at Hinata, he rushed and finished getting dressed in record time. He really liked the school’s black uniform, and he grinned at himself in the mirror, thinking he was _finally going to Karasuno High School_ , before leaving the room. He bumped into Kageyama on the way out, and the black-haired boy pulled on his hair angrily, eyes twitching.

“Watch where you’re going, you dumbass!”

“Ow! It’s your fault for standing right in front of the door!”

“Yeah, because you wouldn’t hurry up!”

In the end, their bickering turned into a race to the lobby that ended up with both of them in a tangled mess of limbs and school bags and books at the foot of the stairs. Tanaka, who’d been standing by the front door, waiting for them, laughed wholeheartedly as the two younger students pawed at each other childishly.

“I think I like you two!” he proclaimed, as Kageyama finally emerged victorious and dusted himself off, trying to regain a little of dignity. Defeated, Hinata crawled to his feet and rubbed his scalp where Kageyama had pulled hard on his hair. “You sure are lively in the morning. Ah, youth” the older student sighed dramatically, and Hinata wondered just how much older than them Tanaka was, to be acting that way. He snuck a peek at Kageyama and, judging by his frown, he was probably wondering the same thing.

Tanaka walked with them to Iwatodai Station, where they took the train to Port Island Station. Karasuno High School was located in a small island called Tatsumi Port Island, which was connected to the city of Iwatodai by monorail. Hinata couldn’t say he was thrilled to be back on a train; the memory of finding the coffin where that poor businessman had been sleeping was still fresh in his mind, and it brought a sense of dread to his stomach – _everyone will die_ – but somehow, the silent presence of Kageyama walking a bit ahead of him was comforting. After all, they had made it to the dorm unhurt the night before, thanks to Kageyama – Hinata somehow knew it had been thanks to him, even if he didn’t know why. That comforting feeling was enough for him to finally get on the train, and the ride to Tatsumi Port Island was smooth. He even got a little excited seeing the ocean as they rode, and he bickered a little with Kageyama for bumping into him accidentally. It was almost as if the events from the previous night had never happened.

But they had. He remembered. The blackout. The moon. The coffins. The whispers. The gun. The Velvet Key, heavy in his pocket. Kenma’s words; _keep close to that person._ Kuroo’s warning; _your destiny has already been decided._

The walk to school from the station was pleasant and uneventful; Karasuno High was a normal school with a large gymnasium, and upon seeing it for the first time Hinata remembered the real reason why he’d come to Karasuno; the volleyball club. He’d be training in the same place as the Little Giant once he joined the volleyball club. Bouncing excitedly as Tanaka showed them to the faculty office and reminded them to check the board to see which class they were in, Hinata gently pulled on Kageyama’s sleeve, and whispered to him once he’d caught his attention.

“Ne, Kageyama. You think club activities will start soon?”

“I don’t know” the taller boy admitted. “Why? You wanna join a club?”

“Yeah!” Hinata grinned excitedly. “The volleyball club!”

Kageyama’s eyes widened for a moment, and Hinata thought he saw recognition in them for a second, as though the taller boy had suddenly realized something. But then Kageyama was back to looking stoic and aloof, even as he replied.

“Oh, so you too. I asked Sugawara-san about it, he’s the vice-captain of the volleyball club.”

“R-Really?!”

“Yeah. He told me club activities won’t start right away but if we’re interested in joining, we should talk to him right away anyway. They don’t have many members so they’re pretty eager to get some new ones.”

“Awesome” Hinata grinned to himself. The rest of Tanaka’s tour around the school fell on deaf ears as he reminded himself over and over again to look for Sugawara-san right after classes were over. The rest of the day at school dragged on just as it used to in junior high; he and Tanaka snickered together at the obvious fact the dean was wearing a wig during the welcoming ceremony while Kageyama shot them deadly glares and tried not to laugh along, he got to meet his homeroom teacher – sadly, he was in class 1-F, while Kageyama was in class 1-E – and he spent lunch talking to some of his new classmates. They were all nice and at the end of the day, he felt he’d made some new acquaintances. Still, as soon as the final bell rang he was out the door and rushing to the third-years’ classroom, looking for Sugawara; he couldn’t find him anywhere, though, and so after a while of looking around fruitlessly he settled for second best and casually walked into classroom 1-E, standing right in front of Kageyama’s desk and placing both hands on it, startling Kageyama out of whatever work he was finishing.

“Hey” he grinned at the dark-eyed boy’s pout. “Wanna go somewhere?”

He really wanted to explore Tatsumi Port Island and Iwatodai, and he also knew he had to stick close to Kageyama for some reason, and walking around with him made him feel a lot safer than doing it alone, so having him tag along seemed like the best way to go. Surprisingly, Kageyama complied and followed him outside the classroom and to the school gates. Hinata thought of inviting Tanaka-san, too, but he was nowhere to be seen either. He’d probably left with Sugawara, he thought as they headed back to the station. They looked around for a bit – there was a cinema there, but neither of them seemed to be in the mood to go inside, and a colorful flower shop, but not much more. They took the monorail back to Iwatodai Station, and they looked around at the shops near the station for a bit before having a snack at a takoyaki stand – the takoyaki tasted weird, Hinata noted, and Kageyama agreed with a nauseous expression – and then they headed to Paulownia Mall. It was a very large, very modern building, full of stylish shops, cafés and attractive places like karaoke clubs and arcades. Hinata had never been to a shopping mall before – there were none in the small town where he was born and raised – so he immediately began bouncing around excitedly from shop to shop, Kageyama yelling after him as he ran to keep up. Finally he caught up to him at the arcade, when Hinata stopped to press his nose to the glass of a crane game just outside.

“Cool…”

“What… are you… a-a child?!” Kageyama gasped behind him, straightening up as he caught his breath. Hinata ignored him, fishing into his pockets for any spare change so he could give the crane game a shot. Sadly for him, he found none, so he turned to Kageyama with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Hey, Kageyama! Do you have any… Kageyama?”

Hinata vaguely registered a familiar sense of dread in his stomach as he took in Kageyama’s expression; he looked positively _frightened_ , body all tensed up and eyes wide, lips pressed together tightly, face pale as a sheet. The taller boy wasn’t looking at him, but at something on the other side of the large round fountain that decorated the center of the mall, and Hinata could almost see the sweat drops rolling down his temple. He’d never seen anyone look so scared in his life, and perhaps because of what Kenma had said – _keep close to that person_ – or because of something else entirely, he felt the need to _protect_ the taller, stronger, more threatening boy. He grabbed Kageyama’s arm firmly and began tugging him out of the mall, and the taller boy snapped out of his shock and followed him in confusion.

“W-Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. Outside. You look like you need air.”

Hinata was surprised at the firmness in his own voice, when he knew that he wasn’t certain about anything anymore, but it felt good to be the one leading Kageyama this time. The taller boy seemed embarrassed; he mumbled a clumsy apology and walked outside with him. Once they were back on the street, Hinata turned to face Kageyama; he looked visibly shaken and somewhat vulnerable. Whatever he had seen, Hinata was glad he hadn’t seen it too, otherwise he would’ve completely lost it.

“Hey” he still tried to provide some comfort; he wanted to put a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder, but the other boy was too tall, so he contented himself with patting his arm. “You okay there?”

Kageyama took a deep breath, closed his eyes and nodded softly.

“I’m okay, I’m just… tired, I guess. I’m gonna head back to the dorm, okay?”

“Let’s head back together, then.”

“W-Whatever.”

They walked slowly. Kageyama kept looking over his shoulder, as though fearing they were being followed, and it mad Hinata incredibly nervous as well. He’d never felt as relieved in his life as he felt when they finally set foot into the dorm and were greeted by Sugawara’s warm, pleasant voice. He was sitting on one of the couches in the lobby, reading a book while Tanaka struggled with his homework, kneeling by the table that was littered with papers from one end to the other.

“Welcome back, guys! How was your day?”

Kageyama mumbled a quick apology and rushed upstairs without another word; Hinata and Sugawara were left staring at the stairs, the room quiet except for Tanaka’s soft, frustrated grunting and whining.

“I think he’s not feeling well” it was the only explanation Hinata could give, and it somehow sounded like an excuse even though it wasn’t, but Sugawara nodded anyway.

“I see. You look tired too, Hinata. You should head to bed right away, okay?”

“Ne, Suga-san, help me! Please!”

“Fine, fine…”

Hinata stared for a moment as Sugawara kneeled down next to Tanaka and began explaining the questions to him; his thoughts, however, were somewhere else entirely. Perhaps in the Velvet Room, or perhaps in a more tangible room upstairs, where Kageyama may or may not have been cowering in fear at whatever he’d seen at the mall. Finally, deciding there was no point in wrecking his brain over it and that he would simply ask Kageyama about it the next day, Hinata headed to his room as well.


	3. 04.08

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "YOU DID SEE IT, DIDN’T YOU?! WHY ARE YOU ACTING SO NORMAL?!”
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Hinata is done with being left out of the loop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! Every hit, kudo, comment, is greatly appreciated!
> 
> I hope this chapter will clear some things up! Especially for those who haven't played the game!

The next school day was just as uneventful as the first one, and Hinata was beginning to wonder whether he’d actually imagined the events of his first night in Iwatodai. Tanaka was friendly and hadn’t tried to shoot them again since the episode from the first night, the mysterious aura that made him think Sugawara had been hiding something had vanished completely, and there had been no further sightings of coffins, yellow moons or bloodstains on the pavement. Maybe the Velvet Room had been a dream after all. Maybe his suspicions about Kageyama lacked foundation. Only two things contradicted this relieving possibility; the light weight of the Velvet Key in his pocket, and the memory of Kageyama’s fear-stricken face as he spotted something Hinata couldn’t quite see at Paulownia Mall. The deep fear in his eyes, more intense than any fear Hinata could possibly imagine, haunted him; Kenma’s words played themselves over and over in his head. _Keep close to that person_.

Perhaps those were the reasons why he headed for classroom 1-E during lunchtime, ignoring the stares of the other students in the class as he made his way to Kageyama’s desk. The taller boy almost seemed to have been expecting him, as he didn’t even flinch when Hinata placed both hands on his notebook and leaned over the desk to grin right at his face.

“Ne, Kageyama! Wanna go have lunch on the roof?”

Kageyama seemed hesitant for a moment, but then he nodded and stood up, and both of them left the classroom together. The roof was strangely deserted, although it was a beautiful sunny day, but Hinata was secretly happy about it; he felt there were things he needed to ask Kageyama, and he’d rather nobody else heard. Otherwise, they would think he’d lost his mind. They sat together on a concrete bench and unpacked their lunchboxes, and they began eating in silence. Hinata perceived a certain tension from Kageyama; the taller boy probably suspected he wanted to talk, and he felt a little bad because he rather liked being around Kageyama, even if he was unpleasant most of the time, and even if he hadn’t had anything to ask him, he still would’ve wanted to have lunch with him. He hadn’t meant to make it look as though he was inviting him with any ulterior motives in mind.

Perhaps asking about the incident at Paulownia Mall right away wasn’t a good idea.

“So…” he started, and Kageyama positively _flinched_ ; geez, how could he even breathe when he was so tense? “Hum, how’s your class?”

“Oh” Kageyama relaxed visibly, and Hinata felt somewhat proud; finally, the cool Kageyama he’d met on the train was beginning to shine through. “Well, not bad, I guess. There’s a bunch of girls that talk very loudly and laugh a lot and I think some of the guys don’t like me, but that’s fine. It’s not unbearable.”

Hinata had the feeling Kageyama didn’t really get along with anyone; how come he always found him alone, otherwise? He’d had to reject an invitation to have lunch by his own classmates, but Kageyama hadn’t even looked at his classmates twice before leaving with Hinata. Didn’t he feel lonely? The memory of his pale, scared face flashed in his mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Kageyama was the kind of person who kept everything inside and struggled to solve all his problems on his own. If he was suffering, he probably wouldn’t tell anyone, would he?

“Well, it’s kind of dull, don’t you think?” he looked up at the fluffy clouds passing overhead. “I guess I thought I’d be like bam! Playing volleyball all day long, right away since the moment I got here, but it’s not exactly like that at all, huh? I’m kind of disappointed.”

“Well, club activities haven’t started yet, so that’s normal. But maybe it’ll be like that when they start?” Hinata unmistakably heard a hint of excitement in Kageyama’s voice, and it made him smile.

“That’s right! You’re joining the volleyball club too, right?”

“Yeah, it’s the reason why I worked so hard to get into this school.”

“Yeah! Me too! I’m going to become the team’s ace!”

“Ace? With your height?”

“I’m short, but I can jump!”

The rest of lunchtime flew by as they bickered and talked excitedly about volleyball, and when Hinata returned to his classroom for afternoon classes, he found he’d almost forgotten about the incident from the day before. Kageyama had been acting so _normal_ , it was difficult to picture him going through any sort of deep emotional turmoil. He’d probably imagined it. Perhaps Kageyama had been sick or something.

Probably that weird takoyaki. They were never ever having that again, he decided, a weight lifting from his shoulders.

Once afternoon classes were over, he went to the third-years’ classrooms to look for Sugawara once again, and once again the gentle silver-haired student was nowhere to be seen. Where did third-years go when classes were over, he wondered, did they just disappear or something? A bit annoyed at Sugawara, even though he was probably busy and it wasn’t really his fault, Hinata headed to classroom 1-E yet again. He found Kageyama standing next to his desk this time, and he wondered whether he’d become a nuisance with his predictable behavior. He approached Kageyama, but before he could make a formal invitation to hang out, the taller boy spoke first.

“I’m heading straight to the dorm today so if you wanna go somewhere with your classmates, then do it.”

Hinata blinked a few times, taken aback by the harsh tone, and defensively barked back a retort.

“Are you jealous because your classmates don’t like you?”

“No, you dumbass” Kageyama frowned a little at the accusation. “I’m telling you that if you have some other plans, go ahead, because I don’t want to go anywhere today.”

“I don’t have any other plans” that was only half a lie, really; the boys in his class had decided to head to the arcade, but it was more like a group invitation and it was okay if not all of them went, really, he was sure some of the other guys had decided to do something else too. It wasn’t like he was missing out on anything and his first plan – or rather, the second one – had been to hang out with Kageyama after all anyway. So he couldn’t say he had other plans, even though he could still go to the arcade if Kageyama really wanted to head home. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. I haven’t tried out that crane game yet! Wanna see who gets the best prize?”

“I told you, I’m not going” Kageyama looked away; he seemed conflicted somehow, and Hinata suspected he wasn’t the only one telling half-truths. Paulownia Mall still weighted heavily in Kageyama’s conscience, it seemed.

“Then let’s walk to the dorm together” Hinata suggested. “We can grab something to eat at Iwatodai Station on the way and…”

“No, thank you.”

Hinata’s face fell, his mood darkening. Kageyama really didn’t want to hang out with him, did he? He felt betrayed for some reason. He’d almost thought they were starting to become friends, but Kageyama obviously didn’t view him in the same way. He wasn’t used to people rejecting him and he didn’t know how to react.

“I-I see… Okay, then…”

He looked down, and glanced back up at Kageyama when he felt his dark eyes on him. Kageyama seemed to be debating with himself. After a long, uncomfortable silence, the taller boy blurted out:

“M-Maybe we can order a pizza and play a videogame or something?”

“O-Oh! Yeah, sure!”

Despite Hinata’s bright smile as he headed out of the school with Kageyama, he still felt something was off. He didn’t dare ask the taller boy about it, though; he had the feeling he’d face rejection and a cold glare once again. And he didn’t really know much explaining to realize Kageyama didn’t want to go out into town in fear of encountering whatever had scared him out of his mind the day before. Hinata was partly glad he didn’t know what it was; it was probably something really terrible.

As they walked up to the school gates, he was surprised to see Sugawara was there. He was standing just outside the school with two other guys; one of them had short, slightly spiky black hair and was wearing the same school uniform as them. Probably a third-year like Sugawara, Hinata reasoned. The other one was taller and bulkier and looked much older than them; he had a wild appearance, with his stubble and his long hair, faded jeans and denim jacket. For a moment, Hinata felt worried his senpais were being bullied or mugged or threatened; but the bulky guy’s demeanor wasn’t, he noticed as he approached them, that of a bully, much less a criminal. He seemed apologetic, bashful almost, as he spoke to the two students; the black-haired senpai had a stern look on his face, while Sugawara simply looked worried. When he noticed the two younger students, he waved a hand at them and forced a smile, and the bulky guy quickly excused himself and left in a hurry.

“Hey, get back here! We’re not finished with you!” the black-haired third-year called after him, but his words were promptly ignored. Sugawara exchanged an anguished look with him, and then approached Hinata and Kageyama, scratching the back of his head.

“Sorry about that, guys.”

“Who was that?” Hinata blurted out, and flinched under Kageyama’s reproachful glare. Sugawara smiled uncomfortably.

“Well, he’s a friend of ours. He was in our class, but… He’s stopped coming to school.”

“He’s a dropout?”

“We’re trying to convince him to come back, but… we haven’t progressed much” the silver-haired third-year looked down. He seemed honestly concerned about his friend, and Hinata wished there was something he could do to help the bulky guy. The other third-year walked up to them, placing a comforting hand on Sugawara’s shoulder.

“It’ll be fine, Suga.”

“But…!”

“It’ll be fine” the young man repeated, more firmly, and as if bringing the conversation to a close he squeezed Sugawara’s shoulder and turned his attention to the two younger students. “These are the new students in our dorm, right? We hope you’re comfortable, we’re not used to getting new residents, but it’s not that bad, is it?”

“Oh, no, it’s awesome! Sugawara-san is really nice to us!” Hinata grinned at him, and Sugawara seemed to brighten up a little at his kind words.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t introduce you guys before, this is Sawamura Daichi” the silver-haired student gave his classmate a fond smile. “He’s the captain of the volleyball team.”

Both Hinata and Kageyama perked up at that; Sugawara tilted his head, amused at their reaction.

“That’s right! Kageyama-kun, you said you wanted to join the volleyball team, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Me too!” Hinata piped in then, raising a hand so as to add some height to himself, as if that would somehow make him more noticeable, or more impressive-looking. “I moved here so I could join the Karasuno Volleyball Team, so please let me join!”

Sugawara exchanged a quick look with Daichi, and then stared at Hinata for a moment before nodding slowly.

“Ah, yes, of course. We’ll tell you when club activities start, okay?”

“Yes! Thank you, senpai!”

And if Kageyama and Sugawara exchanged a meaningful look as they went their separate ways, Hinata missed it entirely, too busy being excited at the prospect of fulfilling his cherished lifelong dream.

True to his word, Hinata headed back to the dorm with Kageyama; he knew he’d made the right decision when he noticed Kageyama never stopped looking back or flinching at every little noise as they made their way back. It was pitiful to see him so jumpy and unnerved when he was usually stoic, calm and collected. Hinata loved to explore and usually never returned home until the sun had long since set, but still he felt incredibly relieved once they reached the dorm and Kageyama finally relaxed. They waited around in the lounge for a bit, until Tanaka arrived and they could ask him for the number of a good – and cheap, if possible – pizza place. They ordered, then waited for a little longer and when their pizza arrived, they offered Tanaka to join them. The second-year student, however, had already spread out all his notes across the table again, and Hinata suspected he was catching up with work he should’ve finished during the holidays.

“Sorry, guys, I’ll have to pass” he whined, with an overdramatically regretful tone. “The captain said he’d kick me out of the volleyball team if I don’t finish this… Oh, that’s right! Kageyama, you’re joining too, right?”

Hinata was a little surprised to find out Tanaka was part of the volleyball club too, but Kageyama didn’t seem fazed at all; he simply nodded, as though he’d been expecting it.

“Yeah, and so is Hinata.”

“Cool” Tanaka gave them a smile and a thumbs-up. “We’re in serious need for new members! Hey, how about you leave a slice of that pizza for your senpai here?”

After handing Tanaka a plate with a large slice of pizza, they headed up to Kageyama’s room. Hinata was quiet, unusually so; Kageyama was quiet too, but that wasn’t too unusual for him. Hinata felt annoyed at him; he couldn’t understand how Kageyama seemed to just know things before they happened, how nothing fazed him – except for whatever he’d seen at Paulownia Mall – how he could act so cool even after the things they’d _seen_ , hell, Kageyama had been _right there_ when the weird blackout happened and he hadn’t even broken a sweat! How was that possible? His mood had greatly darkened by the time they reached Kageyama’s room, and when Kageyama started browsing through the games that were piled up on his desk, he finally snapped.

“Hey. Kageyama.”

Kageyama’s hand paused atop the stack of CD cases, and he sighed and slowly turned to face Hinata. There was an unreadable look on his face, not quite angry but not quite happy. If anything, he looked _resigned._ When he said nothing, Hinata spoke again.

“The other night… when we got off the train. You saw it too, right? The blood… The coffins… The moon… You did see them, right?”

Kageyama’s eyes widened slightly, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Hinata wasn’t finished yet; the dam had been broken and words poured out faster than his brain could process.

“I-I was scared! I was so scared, and you…! Y-You just kept walking as though you didn’t see anything, and I didn’t know what was going on! I thought I was going insane, that I was the only one who could see it! Why weren’t you surprised? Why weren’t you scared?! YOU DID SEE IT, DIDN’T YOU?! WHY ARE YOU ACTING SO NORMAL?!”

There was a long stretch of awkward silence after his outburst. Hinata panted softly, catching his breath and refusing to look at Kageyama, feeling his intense, piercing dark stare on him. When Kageyama finally spoke, Hinata expected an apology, a soft tone, an oh-so-long-overdue _explanation_. He didn’t expect the taller boy’s incredulous tone as he asked:

“You mean you _don’t know about the Dark Hour_?”

Hinata stared at Kageyama as if he’d just began talking in a completely different language.

“The _Dark Hour_?”

Kageyama smacked a hand over his own forehead and slumped over the back of his chair, looking utterly appalled.

“Why didn’t you _say so sooner_ , you _dumbass_?!”

“I-I tried to!”

“When you said you’d come to Karasuno to join the _volleyball team_ I thought you had the _potential_ , too!”

“What the heck are you talking about?! What potential?!”

“The potential to fight the shadows, you idiot!”

Hinata fell silent and looked down. No matter how he tried to ask, all he got was more questions; he couldn’t understand what Kageyama was talking about, or how him wanting to join the volleyball club had anything to do with the weird power cut. Kageyama sighed and ran a hand through his hair, standing up off the chair to sit on the floor across Hinata, the pizza box still unopened between them.

“I don’t even know if I should be telling you this” Kageyama confessed, and Hinata could tell he was being serious from the look in his eyes. “But since you witnessed the Dark Hour with me, I think it’s fair I explain it to you. Still, I don’t know everything about it, so… I’ll tell you what I know, but you have to promise you won’t ever speak about this to anyone, unless you know you can trust them, okay?”

Hinata stared at him; Kageyama stared back without looking away.

_Keep close to that person._

“I promise.”

Kageyama nodded once, placing both hands behind his back on the floor, supporting himself in a sitting position.

“The Dark Hour is a period of time that occurs every night at midnight” he began explaining. “It’s… what its name implies, a sort of hidden hour. For most people, the clock just goes from twelve to twelve and one minute, right? But for certain people, like us, an entire hour passes between twelve and twelve and one. That’s what they call the Dark Hour.”

“Y-You have to be kidding…” but Hinata couldn’t, no matter how much he wished he could, deny what he had seen. The lights going out. The music player shutting down suddenly. The coffins… Were those…? “So… Those coffins we saw…?”

“People who don’t experience the Dark Hour appear to us as coffins” Kageyama nodded softly. “They’re safe there, and when the Dark Hour passes, they return to normal.”

“So that businessman on the train did make it home…” Hinata smiled to himself, ignoring Kageyama’s yell of _that’s what you were worried about, you DUMBASS?!_ “But why didn’t we turn into coffins? Why can we see the Dark Hour and the others can’t?”

“I don’t know” Kageyama answered honestly. “I never found out why some people can experience it and some can’t. What I do know is that all of us who do experience it are exposed to monsters called shadows.”

“Shadows?”

“Yeah. You can see them and hear them during the Dark Hour.”

Hinata suddenly remembered the soft inviting whisper he’d heard when they left the station, and a shiver ran down his back.

“C-Creepy! I-I think I heard one of them the other night! Creepy, creepy!!”

“I know, it’s disturbing.”

“Have you ever seen one?!”

“Many times. They’re…” Kageyama looked away, a haunted look in his eyes. “They’re the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. I feel so powerless whenever I encounter one and have to run away. It’s the scariest thing in the world.”

“So yesterday at Paulownia Mall, was it a shadow that you saw?” Hinata wondered, and Kageyama gave him a funny look.

“Huh?”

“No, nevermind” he backtracked quickly, not wanting to upset the taller boy now that he’d finally gotten him talking. “So… you mentioned some _potential_. Is that something we have? Those of us who are not coffins during the Dark Hour?”

“Some of us do” Kageyama nodded. “Both of us do, in fact. We just haven’t awakened to it yet.”

“How do you know?”

“Because if we didn’t, we’d both be dead.”

Hinata paled at those words; _dead_. His death. Being a generally optimistic, cheerful person, he’d never really considered his death seriously. He knew he’d pass away, eventually; everyone did. But it seemed so far away, that moment, he couldn’t believe he could’ve just _died_ some hours before. It made him wonder if coming to Iwatodai had been the right decision after all. But it was his destiny, according to Kuroo, so there was no point in grieving over it now; and besides, if it had to happen anyway, he’d rather it happened with Kageyama, who knew more than him and could protect him and help him.

_Protect me?_

“The shadows prey on those who don’t have the potential” Kageyama continued. “But the both of us probably do, so they didn’t attack us.”

“I see. But what does it mean, having the potential?”

“It means we have the power to fight the shadows. We just haven’t unlocked it yet.”

“I see” Hinata put a finger to his lips, deep in thought. He couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this whole conversation – the Dark Hour, the shadows, the potential to fight them – had a lot to do with what Kuroo and Kenma had told him. Maybe this was what he had to do? Fight the shadows alongside Kageyama? “And… How do we unlock it?”

“I don’t know” Kageyama sighed; he sounded annoyed by that. “That’s why I came to Karasuno High to join the volleyball club.”

“The volleyball club?” Hinata cocked his head to the side. “What does the club to do with this?”

“Haven’t you wondered why such a well-known club that was once in the nationals now has barely enough members to form a team?” Kageyama seemed almost amused. “The whole volleyball club thing is a façade. All of the members are shadow fighters. Sugawara, Daichi, Tanaka. All of them.”

Hinata began feeling dizzy. It was too much information for him to handle; everyone in the volleyball club… They were all aware of the Dark Hour? They all had the potential to fight the shadows? The volleyball club he’d wanted to join for so long was nothing but a mask, hiding such a dark, terrible secret behind? His shock, confusion and disappointment probably showed on his face, because Kageyama gave him a somewhat worried look.

“Hey. Don’t fry your little stupid brain thinking of all this. You should talk to the senpai tomorrow and tell them you want out. They’ll send you to the boys’ dorm at school and you won’t have to worry about all this. You don’t need to awaken to your potential. You can just go on living a normal life.”

Hinata gave him an unsure glance.

“You came here because you want to fight, right, Kageyama?”

“Definitely.”

Hinata wished he had that strong conviction. But the mere thought of fighting, of putting his life on the line, of _dying_ , made his body feel weak, boneless, as if he were made of jelly. He didn’t know what he would be going up against, were he to join the fight, but he did know it scared him out of his mind.

“I’ll think about it” he finally whispered, hesitantly. Kageyama nodded and opened the pizza box, quietly offering Hinata a cold slice. The silence between them stretched out endlessly, for the rest of the evening.

They never got to play any games after all.


	4. 04.09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't wanna die. Please, I don't wanna die."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Hinata sees Death right before his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween?
> 
> Thank you SO much to the people who commented, I'm so happy to see there are more Haikyuu fans who also happen to like Persona. This is dedicated to you, guys!
> 
> Also, Mr. Kamikaze will be surprised at this chapter. It'll be funny, just you wait.

The painfully ordinary school day that followed the revelations of the previous evening seemed like a bad joke to Hinata. He was in a horrible mood and mostly slept through the lessons as he’d barely gotten any sleep the night before. He didn’t bother looking for Kageyama during lunchtime, and Kageyama didn’t come looking for him either; he knew it was ridiculous to be angry at him, of all people, but he couldn’t help it. After all, he’d been the one to break it to Hinata that the sports club he admired so much was nothing but a lie, hiding something obscure and rotten underneath its shimmering surface. He desperately needed someone to blame, and it had to be Kageyama.

He didn’t look for him after school, either; he didn’t look for anyone in particular, really. He just followed his classmates idly to Paulownia Mall, making small conversation and smiling and nodding, yeah, I’m just tired, nothing’s wrong. He felt worlds apart from their conversations, their laughing, their worries. None of them had gone through the dark hour, none of them had entertained the thought of _dying_. Not even the memory of Kageyama’s scared expression as he spotted the crane game made him want to return to the dorm, even though it did pull at his heartstrings a little bit. He’d promised he would keep close to him, because he was an important person. Kageyama had been there with him during his first Dark Hour, leading the way so he wouldn’t get lost, and possibly hurt. He’d told himself he wanted to approach Kageyama for more reasons than finding out more about the strange things happening around him, yet when Kageyama explained everything he just stopped talking to him. He’d done exactly the thing he’d promised himself not to do, and he hated himself for it.

But he tried to convince himself he hated Kageyama a little bit more.

He could say he had a pretty good time at the mall with his classmates anyway. The boys played some games in the arcade while the girls browsed around the shops and giggled amongst themselves every time a handsome guy walked past. They tried the Pheromone Coffee at Chagall Café – Hinata didn’t know whether he felt any more attractive after drinking it, but a few of his female classmates _did_ shoot him a glance or two with little conspiratory smiles – and then fooled around at the karaoke bar for a bit before calling it a night. He offered to walk two the girls home, and then headed back to the dorm, feeling a little better after an entire day of plain, blissful _normalcy_. This was what junior high had been like to him, and he wished things would remain like that throughout high school as well. He could live with just that.

And then he walked into the dorm and the heavy atmosphere crashed down on him as soon as he opened the door.

Tanaka, Sugawara and Daichi were all sitting around the table in the lounge, bodies tense and faces twisted with worry, exchanging quick glances and checking the time on their phones or wristwatches. There was someone else with them; a beautiful girl with black hair and dark eyes, sitting up very straight in an armchair. She was reading a book, Hinata could see the words reflected in her glasses, or she was trying, anyway; her eyes kept drifting towards Sugawara, who looked back at her helplessly. Daichi placed a protective arm around his shoulders and leaned in to whisper in his ear, but the silver-haired boy promptly pushed him away and stood up as soon as Hinata arrived.

“Hinata…” Sugawara greeted him mindlessly, but he wasn’t really looking at him; he seemed to be looking at something behind him, and Hinata turned around to look as well, distrusting anything that could sneak up on him. When he saw nothing, he turned back to his senpai with a questioning look.

“Sugawara-san?”

Sugawara sighed softly, brown eyes downcast once again.

“Sorry” he mumbled, returning to Daichi’s side with uncertain steps – and Daichi was quick to drape and arm over his shoulders again. “I just thought… I hoped Kageyama was with you.”

Hinata’s eyes widened a little, and he froze right where he stood.

“What?”

“Kageyama told me he was coming straight here after school, but when we got here…” Sugawara looked up at Daichi. “We realized he never came back.”

“I checked in his room, he wasn’t in there, either” Daichi admitted, scratching his head nervously. Tanaka nodded, looking unusually serious.

“I looked around the usual spots where students go – and some where they _shouldn’t_ go – and he wasn’t there.”

“And he wasn’t at school” the girl whispered, finally giving up and putting her book down. “I hope he’s not…”

“He can’t possibly be” Daichi shook his head. “Suga and I spoke to him just this morning, so there’s no way he could…”

“What?” Hinata could feel a strong sense of dread, curling deep in his stomach like an angry venomous snake. “He couldn’t possibly be… what?”

_Dead?_

Daichi stared at Hinata for a moment, and then shook his head solemnly.

“I’ll explain everything later, I promise. Right now, I’m more worried about finding Kageyama; if the Dark Hour comes around and he’s still out there on his own, it could be dangerous. He can’t even summon a Persona as he is now.”

“A what?”

“Later, Hinata” Sugawara’s tone was almost begging. “Please, just help us. There was something bothering Kageyama, I promised I’d have a talk with him tonight, but… he never got to tell me what it was. You’re the closest to him, right? Do you have any idea where he could be?”

Hinata thought about it for a moment, squeezing his lips together tightly; he felt responsible for this. If only he’d been with Kageyama, like he’d been for the past days… But he hadn’t. He’d gone off on his own just because he couldn’t face the fact things weren’t exactly what he thought they would be and blamed Kageyama just to have someone to be angry at. And now Kageyama was missing and if something happened to him… If he _died_ , who would be there to help him? There was something he had to do and he needed Kageyama to be there. He couldn’t just go off and get himself killed, that selfish bastard. He tried desperately to think of anything that could be relevant but nothing really came to mind.

“My only option would be Paulownia Mall” he sighed, shaking his head. “The other day we went there and he started acting really weird, but… I was there all afternoon. I didn’t see him around.”

Sugawara sighed audibly and rubbed both hands over his face, begrudgingly leaning his head towards Daichi’s shoulder when the black-haired captain pulled him closer. Feeling like he was intruding upon something private, almost intimate, Hinata turned his attention to the pretty girl sitting by herself in the biggest, most comfortable armchair, looking like a queen on her throne. Albeit a pale, worried one.

“N-Nice to meet you” Hinata mumbled somewhat shyly, bowing as she turned to him with a mildly surprised expression, as though she’d just noticed his presence. “I’m Hinata Shouyou.”

The beautiful girl stared at him for a moment, her gaze intense, as though she were studying him – somehow he felt that was exactly the case – before she bowed her head lightly as well.

“Shimizu Kiyoko. I’m pleased to meet you” reaching for her book, she opened it once again, flipping through the pages idly. “I’m the volleyball team manager.”

And with those simple words, Hinata knew she was a shadow fighter too, and he felt a profound respect for her; such a pretty girl, she looked so smart and refined, there was probably an amazing future ahead of her but she still chose to risk her life fighting. And he hadn’t even been able to cope with the fact that those things existed; he hadn’t been able to give Kageyama a proper answer. He’d shunned the taller boy out and left him alone with whatever it was that was bothering him so much.

Time had never passed by so slowly in his life. He tried to go up to his room and play a game, read something, even take a nap, but in the end Hinata just went back to the lounge and sat on the floor, by Tanaka’s feet. Embracing his knees, he stared straight ahead; now and then he quietly asked Tanaka for the time, and the second-year replied in a hushed voice. Hinata felt his heart sink a little bit more each time, as the clock slowly but steadily approached midnight, the Dark Hour looming in the near horizon. If Kageyama was still outside when it happened…

“But he’ll be okay” he whispered, fighting to convince himself. “He said he wouldn’t be attacked because he has the potential.”

“That isn’t exactly true” Daichi grimaced a little. He looked disappointed, as though he honestly wanted to believe that. “Shadows that are more aggressive will still attack, even if you have the potential.”

“K-Kageyama doesn’t know that…” Hinata whispered, feeling panic rising in his throat. He wanted to scream, to run out the door and find Kageyama, he needed to warn him, to _protect him_! “Tanaka-san, what’s the time?”

The second-year’s answer took a little longer than it should have; he was reluctant to tell Hinata.

“Only five minutes to midnight.”

“No…” Hinata let out a soft whine, curling up into himself as he hid his face between his arms, hands clutching at his knees.

“It’s okay” he felt Tanaka’s hand on his head, giving him a few awkward pats. “Don’t worry, Hinata. We’ll go look for him again.”

“It’s out best choice” Daichi said, and Hinata looked up just in time to see him pull a gun from his belt. It was silver with a black handle, and had the letters S.E.E.S. engraved on the side. It didn’t look real but, at the same time, it didn’t look exactly fake. In any case, the sight of it made everything more real to Hinata; these guys, and the beautiful black-haired girl, were fighters. The thought made him feel a little bit better, even though the feeling of dread never quite left his stomach.

He involuntarily let out a panicked cry when the lights went out, and Tanaka gave a start and kicked him in the back.

“Shh! Hinata!”

“I-I’m sorry” Hinata was trembling. It was only the second Dark Hour he experienced in his lifetime – that he knew of, all the other times he’d probably been asleep – and it was just as frightening as the first one. The room was shrouded in darkness, the greenish light of the full moon outside streaming in from the window. Hinata could see Daichi’s and Sugawara’s pistols glinting in the moonlight. It was almost as terrifying as the thought of whatever could be out there – whatever could be happening to Kageyama right then.

For a moment he thought nobody was breathing. Then, Kiyoko stood up.

“Shall we go?” she asked, in a soft voice. And just as she finished speaking, the front doors flew open suddenly, and the three older boys moved at once; Tanaka kicked Hinata to the side and stood up, hiding him in his shadow. Daichi pounced on Kiyoko, pushing her back into the armchair to shield her, and Sugawara stood up, gun aimed right at his temple. For a moment, Hinata watched him from his position on the floor and he wanted to scream for him not to shoot himself because _why would he ever think of shooting himself_?! But then he heard the soft sound of someone panting, and the dull ‘thud!’ of something falling on the carpeted floor, and Sugawara threw his gun at Daichi and dashed for the door.

“Kageyama! Kageyama!!”

Hinata was on his feet before he realized he’d moved at all; he pushed Tanaka out of the way and rushed to Kageyama, who was a messy heap on the floor. There was blood pouring from a deep cut in his right arm, his lip and eyebrow were bleeding as well, and his clothes were torn in pieces and very dirty, as though he’d crawled through mud or something equally slimy and disgusting. Hinata kneeled down next to him with Sugawara, and he felt his stomach twist and a knot forming in his throat when Kageyama’s eyes slipped open and he looked up at him.

“Don’t go out” the black-haired boy whispered, and Hinata felt like slapping him.

“Y-You idiot! W-Why… W-Why did you stay out so late…? W-What were you doing?!”

“Hinata” Sugawara placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a stern look, and Hinata realized it just wasn’t the right thing to say, and it wasn’t the right time, either. So instead he held out his hand and, with Sugawara’s help, they moved Kageyama to one of the chairs in the kitchen area, which was further from the window and thus, more sheltered. Kiyoko disappeared briefly and quickly returned with a first-aid kit, handing it to Sugawara while Daichi and Tanaka listened to what he had to say.

When Kageyama recovered his breath, he began speaking in a hurried tone.

“I… There’s… I-It was a really large shadow. Really, really large, I’ve never seen one that big before. Captain” his eyes were pleading as he looked at Daichi. “Please… Y-You have to get rid of it. I’m sorry, I couldn’t do anything…”

“Don’t worry” Daichi placed a careful hand on his shoulder, while Sugawara finished bandaging his arm.

“Stay here, okay?” he told Kageyama and Hinata. “Daichi, Kiyoko and I will handle it. Tanaka, stay here with them, please.”

“W-What?!” Tanaka looked outraged at the vice-captain’s decision. “But, Suga-san…!”

“Agreed” Daichi nodded, and with that, the decision was made final. The two older students and Kiyoko headed outside, the door clicking closed behind them, and Tanaka, still fuming, turned to face Kageyama, glaring at him as if he’d done something terrible.

“What were you doing outside at this hour, anyway?! I thought you knew better, you brat!!”

Kageyama stared at the floor stubbornly, clenching his fists, and Hinata could swear he saw pain in his eyes. The black-haired boy refused to answer, no matter how many intimidating faces Tanaka pulled on him, and Hinata felt that protective impulse of his spiking again.

“Tanaka-san, that’s enough! Kageyama is hurt, stop harassing him!”

There was a stretch of awkward silence in which Hinata wondered if he’d gone too far; but then Tanaka huffed and returned to the lounge, mumbling something about ‘disrespectful brats’, and he felt more at ease; the second-year didn’t seem really angry after all. He felt a soft tugging on his sleeve and, when he turned to look at Kageyama, he found the boy blushing faintly, his gaze still fixed on the floor as though he wanted to dive right through it.

“…Thanks” he muttered, and Hinata smiled softly. Later, he would apologize for leaving him alone, hoping Kageyama wouldn’t blame him for his wounds. He was thinking of a subject to bring up so as to make small talk, and distract Kageyama from the pain he was probably feeling, when a powerful rumbling sound was heard just outside the door, and Hinata paled as he saw a large shape move quickly past the window.

“Oh, shit” Tanaka mumbled, jumping to his feet, just to trip and plop back down on the couch as the whole building began to quake violently. “You two, head upstairs! Quick!” he yelled as he produced his gun from inside his shirt and bolted out the door. Hinata stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, until he felt something strong grip his wrist and then he was being pulled to the stairs by a very obviously panicked Kageyama.

“Hurry up, dumbass!”

“Yeah! S-Sorry!”

They rushed upstairs; just as they reached the first floor, the building shook again, and Hinata wobbled on his feet and almost tripped. Kageyama held him up, placing his unhurt arm around his shoulders and urging him forward. They made it to the second floor and stopped, catching their breaths, until Hinata saw something out the corner of his eye, through the window, and shot up the stairs to the third floor in a panic, Kageyama trailing behind him, limping slightly from a twisted ankle he hadn’t realized he had. He collapsed as soon as they reached the third floor, and Hinata stopped and kneeled next to him, panting.

“Kageyama, are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah… My left ankle hurts a lot, but I’m okay. Can you look out the window?”

Hinata shook his head desperately.

“N-No, no, I’m scared!”

“C’mon, you dumbass, we need to see where it’s going!”

Kageyama’s tone was angry, but there was still a plead underlying in his angry words; he was practically begging him. When Hinata finally looked at him, he saw Kageyama was really pale, and his body was trembling slightly. Protective instinct kicking in, he nodded and approached the nearest window, trying to get a look at the outer wall to see if the shadow was crawling up the side of the building.

The only thing he could see was a very large, black blob with uncountable limbs, like arms, protruding out of its shapeless body. A blue, expressionless face turned to him, and then one of the many arms outstretched and shot right at him, the sharp sword-like blade it held in its little hand piercing right through the window, showering him with broken glass. He moved his head out of the way just in time; the blade scratched his cheek, the cut stinging and beginning to bleed right away. He stumbled backwards and fell, shards of glass digging painfully into his hands, cutting holes into his palms.

He screamed. He closed his eyes and screamed like he’d never screamed before.

“HINATA!”

He was still crying in pure, unbridled _fear_ – not even able to feel the pain – when Kageyama ran to him and dragged him to his feet. He clung to Kageyama’s taller, bigger form desperately, and Kageyama stumbled up the stairs as quickly as he could, pulling Hinata along. The wound in his arm had re-opened, the bandages turning red, and by the time they got to the roof and Kageyama kicked the door open, both of them were a bloody mess.

Hinata let himself hit the floor, his body curling up into itself. They were trapped on the roof; Tanaka was probably wounded somewhere in the vicinity and the others would never make it in time. That black blob with the million arms and the pale blue face – that _shadow_ – was going to kill them both.

“I don’t wanna die” he whispered, shivering as the building shook again. “Please, I don’t wanna die.”

“H-Hinata…” Kageyama was panting heavily, his body leaning against the doorframe. “Go back… G-Go back inside and hide. I’ll hold him off here.”

“How?!” Hinata trembled, looking up as the building shook again. “Y-You can’t fight it!”

“J-Just do as I told you!” Kageyama argued, but just then the building shook again, more violently, and he lost his balance and fell to his knees weakly. “Ugh…”

“K-Kageyama…” Hinata stared ahead, at the full moon shining just in front of them, at the green sky – and suddenly the emotionless blue face was peeking at them over the edge of the roof, and he cried out and tried to crawl towards Kageyama; his bruised hands didn’t let him, however, and he collapsed again, lying outstretched near the black-haired boy. He couldn’t move, and he couldn’t get up. The shadow was crawling onto the roof, approaching them, one little black hand holding its face – it was more like a mask, but the way it moved, as if it were looking around, made him think it was its face – and the others holding those short sharp blades. As the shadow advanced on them, it felt as though a pitch-black darkness was sucking in the light around them, darkening the very air they breathed. Hinata felt his head pounding and spinning and he knew it was the end. They would die there. It was the end of the line for them.

He whined in agony; he didn’t want to die! The sound seemed to catch the shadow’s attention, the blue mask’s empty black eyes staring vacantly at him before the shadow began moving in his direction, ignoring the quiet Kageyama, who seemed too frozen in fear to move a muscle. _Good_ , Hinata thought, deliriously, _come to me and leave him alone._ Still, his heart was pounding faster and harder, more painfully, tears streaming down his face messily.

“N-No…” he whispered. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. _He didn’t want to die._ “No… No…”

“Hinata! Hinata!!”

The shadow raised one of its arms high above Hinata, and he could almost feel the coldness of the blade cutting through him before it happened.

“NO! NO, HINATA!!”

A strong wind blew over them. It whistled gently in Hinata’s ear, caressed his hair and soothed the stinging on his cheek, dried his tears and the sweat on his forehead; the air he breathed was clear again. For a moment, he thought that was what death felt like; a fresh wind blowing away everything that hurt, everything that pained him and made him cry. The sense of utter bliss and peace lasted but a second. And then, he slowly opened his eyes.

Kageyama was standing between him and the shadow. For a terrifying moment, Hinata thought he’d taken the blow for him. But then he heard a deep, powerful roar right above them, and he rolled on his back and looked up at the sky.

At first glance, the creature looked like a giant black crow.

Then he began noticing the details; the creature had white legs and white gloves over his hands, and was wearing what seemed to be a long black coat. It didn’t have a face; at the end of its neck there was a silver faceplate resembling a pair of jaws and empty black eyes. It somehow reminded Hinata of a shark. The creature was holding a sword, and what he’d at first thought were wings were in fact a set of large black and blue plates, in the shape of coffins, bound to the creature’s back by a chain, creating a sort of shield around his shoulders. It was almost as if he were wearing a cape.

Kageyama’s eyes were closed. He seemed to be concentrating really hard on something; then his dark eyes snapped open and he pointed a hand straight at the shadow, and the large creature floating over them let out a mighty war cry and charged. Its sword pierced the shadow right through the middle, cracking its mask-face in the process. In an instant, it was over; the shadow vanished and the creature turned to face Kageyama.

Hinata looked up at Kageyama’s face; he seemed pained, tired and resigned. The creature slowly faded before their eyes, and once it was completely gone, Kageyama passed out, dropping suddenly next to Hinata with a heavy sound. Hinata could do nothing to help him; he was still in a state of shock himself, as he’d been just about to die, and the person next to him had saved his life, he had _saved his life_ , he would be dead if it wasn’t for Kageyama and the thought of it was too large for him to comprehend. He owed his life to this person.

He simply lied on the floor next to him for a while, feeling how every cell in his body simply _hurt_. At one point the moon became white and the sky became black, and he knew the Dark Hour was over. He breathed out softly and closed his eyes. Kageyama was still out cold, breathing steadily by his side. Hinata felt safe.

_They were alive_.

It took the older students another half an hour to find them, and when they did, Hinata was asleep as well, snuggled into the warmth of Kageyama’s chest.


	5. 04.17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm Nishinoya Yuu. I'm a Persona user, too."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Hinata meets everyone's favourite character. No question about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments, kudos, hits, sideway glances, everything is appreciated.
> 
> I just fucking love Nishinoya. Don't you? We all love Nishinoya. He's awesome and he deserves all the love.
> 
> It's funny because I gave him the Persona that corresponds to a character most people hate in the P3 fandom!

It took eight days for Kageyama to wake up. For Hinata, it was eight days of getting up impossibly early, checking on Kageyama before heading to school, going back to the hospital right after school, and only returning to the dorm when the Dark Hour was almost upon them. He slept very little, dozed off during class, had dark bags under his eyes, but nobody, not even Daichi, could convince him to stop doing it. He couldn’t help but obsess over the person who had saved his life, risking his own and doing something so impressive.

On the night of the incident, he was called back to the Velvet Room in his dreams. He sat across the desk from Kuroo, as he had the first time; Kenma was sitting on the desk, his back turned to both of them as he poked frantically at his cellphone, and Hinata shot him a questioning glance.

“Kenma, are you okay?”

“Leave him” Kuroo mumbled. “He’s investigating the shadow that showed up at your dorm today.”

“He can do that?”

“He’s my assistant” Kuroo smirked. “Of course he can do that.”

But his smiling face quickly became serious, and he stretched out a hand to pat Hinata’s wrist.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Hinata looked up at him, blinking, and considered his answer for a moment.

“Yes” he finally whispered, after a pause. “I’m okay. Thanks to Kageyama, I’m okay.”

“That was an amazing display of power he did right there” Kuroo’s eyes drifted to Kenma’s back. “Usually, novice Persona users are not that powerful. He shouldn’t have been able to kill that Shadow in one strike, even if it wasn’t as powerful as you two thought it was.”

“It was terrifying” Hinata looked down, squeezing his hands together; the wounds in his palms were gone, but he suspected he’d feel them again in the morning. “Kageyama was right. It was the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me. Even now it makes me scared just to remember it… I-I thought I was going to die. But then he was there.”

“He?” Kuroo tilted his head. “Kageyama, or his Persona?”

Hinata stared at Kuroo for a moment, puzzled. What was that question even supposed to mean? Kuroo shook his head, smiling.

“Do you know what a Persona is, Hinata?”

At first, Hinata thought of that creature Kageyama had conjured apparently out of thin air; he’d pointed at the shadow and the creature had attacked, protecting them both. He guessed that was a Persona; a kind of monster-thing that showed up and fought for you. But he didn’t really know what it was; his definition wasn’t satisfying.

“ _He_ was a Persona – that monster Kageyama sort of summoned? But I don’t know what a Persona is, really.”

Kuroo nodded and leaned back on his chair, touching his fingertips together; he was obviously trying to translate the probably very elevated and complicated definition he’d been taught by whomever had inhabited the Velvet Room before him into words an idiot like Hinata could understand.

“We don’t know all there is to know about Personas, just as we don’t know everything there is to know about shadows” was the first thing he said. Hinata felt bad for the both of them; hadn’t the previous owner of the room taught them _anything_ at all? “But basically, a Persona is a manifestation of your soul. It’s usually referred to as a _mask_ you put on to face life’s hardships. In practice, it’s exactly what you saw; a creature that emerges from your own self, that you can call upon at will, and that you can use to defend yourself and fight the shadows. That’s how the other Persona users in your dorm fight the shadows.”

“And I guess those who have the potential are those who can summon Personas, right?”

“Basically. Kageyama appears to have awakened to his own potential, though in a rather… violent way” Kuroo looked down pensively. “I hope that won’t have consequences for him in the long run.”

“You think that can happen?” Hinata’s eyes widened, and Kuroo scratched his head, seemingly frustrated with the amount of things he didn’t know.

“I wish we could give you more information, but this is all we know.”

“For now” Kenma spoke then, for the first time since Hinata arrived. “I’ll contact you if I find anything useful. You take care of him in the meantime, okay?”

Hinata knew he was talking about Kageyama, and he didn’t hesitate to nod; of course he would take care of Kageyama, the dark-eyed boy was the very reason he was alive. After leaving the Velvet Room, he woke up in the middle of the night and realized he was in the hospital; both his hands were bandaged, and he felt as though he’d been beaten up, groggy and nauseous. He looked around without lifting his head from the pillow; to his right, there was a door, and to his left there was another bed. In the dim moonlight glowing through the window, he could see Kageyama lying there, his eyes closed peacefully. A machine beeped softly to the rhythm of his heart. Hinata rolled onto his side and watched him for a while. Kageyama looked pale and frail, and Hinata found he didn’t like the sight one single bit. He fell asleep again wishing he could reach for the dark-eyed boy’s hand.

He was woken up in the morning by a gentle voice whispering his name softly, and when he opened his eyes again he found Sugawara sitting on the edge of his bed, while Tanaka stood by the door with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. Both of them looked unhurt, and Hinata silently thanked whatever higher power had protected them.

“Sugawara-san… Tanaka-san… Y-You’re okay…”

“We’re okay” Sugawara nodded, patting Hinata’s hand gently. “Don’t worry about it. How are you feeling?”

Hinata rubbed his eyes as well as he could with both his hands bandaged, blinking against the warm sunlight. His cheek stung where the shadow’s sword had cut his face, and his hands throbbed pretty badly, but other than that, he felt well-rested and the lightheaded feeling he’d had during the night was gone. One thing was still bugging him, though; he turned to the other bed in the room, to find Kageyama was still asleep. He sat up with a little struggle, careful not to damage his hands any further, and stared at the sleeping boy next to him. Sugawara seemed to read his intentions, because he quickly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hinata, don’t” he whispered. “H-He needs rest, okay? Just let him sleep.”

“He hasn’t woken up” Hinata turned to look at the older student, his gaze intense, face dead-serious. “Is that it? He’s not waking up?”

“Give him some time” Sugawara looked miserable. “He’ll wake up soon, I’m sure… I-I hope so.”

Hinata looked terribly upset after those words; Tanaka and Sugawara exchanged a look, and as if reaching a silent decision together, Tanaka approached Hinata and helped him out of the bed, making sure he could stand on his own before pulling him towards the door. Hinata followed reluctantly, glancing over his shoulder at the sleeping Kageyama.

“W-Where are we going, Tanaka-san?”

“You have to stay here for the day, but we can’t trust you to stay calm on you own” Tanaka smirked at him over his shoulder. “So I’m getting you some company. Follow me.”

Curious, and forgetting for a brief moment about Kageyama, Hinata followed Tanaka out of the room and down the corridor to the very last door. He felt a slight chill, as he was dressed only in one of those green hospital robes, but he paid it no mind as he rushed after the second-year. Tanaka stopped in front of the last door and knocked three times before pushing it open, ushering Hinata inside.

“C’mon, I think he’s awake already.”

As Hinata approached the single bed in the room, which was close to the window so its occupant could see outside, the person lying in it turned his head slowly and smiled a little. At first glance, Hinata thought it was a child, and his heart sunk a little; he really didn’t feel like he could deal with the sight of a sick child, it just made him want to run straight back home to check on his little sister. The boy looked thin and a bit too pale, but his smile was cheerful; his short black hair hung around his face, a bit of his fringe dyed blond, the dark roots already showing. How long had he been in hospital, Hinata wondered? He looked sickly and tired, but still content somehow. And he also seemed very, very happy to see them.

“Tanaka!” he waved a thin hand at them. Despite his childish looks and his miniature size, his voice revealed he was in fact older than he looked. “You got up early today! You feelin’ alright?”

“Shut up” Tanaka chuckled. “We got two first-years here last night, it’s the least I could do since I couldn’t protect them” the second-year ruffled Hinata’s hair, and Hinata wanted to protest that it hadn’t been Tanaka’s fault, but the boy in the bed spoke to him then, and he whipped around to look at him.

“Hey, kid. That looks painful. Your hands, I mean” he motioned for Hinata to come closer with a wiggle of his finger. “C’mere, let me see.”

Hinata stole a glance at Tanaka, and the second-year gently pushed him forward and turned to the door.

“I gotta catch the train to school. Noya-san, take care of the kid, okay?”

“Alright, alright” the sickly boy nodded absentmindedly, reaching for Hinata’s hands as soon as he was close enough. Hinata sat on the edge of the hospital bed and watched him closely, wincing every now and then as the smaller boy carefully pried off his bandages, revealing his bruised palms; there were cuts and swollen red spots where pieces of glass had needed to be removed from his flesh. He wondered how long it would take to heal; he felt useless without his hands. “That’s some damage you did there” the black-haired boy carelessly dropped the bandages to the floor beside the bed, inspecting the wounds. “What happened to you?”

“I fell on broken glass” Hinata explained. The other boy nodded again, in the same absentminded way, as he stared at Hinata’s hands. He seemed to be concentrating on something; as Hinata stared, the boy’s eyes suddenly fell closed, and he whispered one short word – _Io_ – and a white glow enveloped Hinata’s hands for a brief moment; much to his astonishment, as the glow subsided, Hinata could see the wounds had disappeared completely, without a trace. He blinked owlishly at the boy, completely stunned, and the boy just grinned and poked his cheek; another flash of light, and the stinging sensation there was gone. The large Band-Aid that had been covering the cut slowly fluttered to the bed, useless now that the cut was healed too.

“That’s better” the black-haired boy leaned back against the pillows, looking tired, but satisfied. Hinata watched him as though he was part of a newly-discovered species, an advanced form of human, some sort of deity.

“How…?”

“I’m Nishinoya Yuu” the boy grinned at him. “I’m a Persona user, too.”

So that’s where Tanaka-san and the third-years kept disappearing to, Hinata realized; they didn’t travel to a different dimension or anything, they were coming to the hospital every day to visit a member of their team. He felt a little bad for getting mad at Sugawara; he would’ve probably done the same too. He thought of Kageyama and he heaved a sigh; he would be visiting him too, every single day, until he woke up. Nishinoya seemed to sense his sadness, because he gave him a worried look.

“Something wrong, kiddo?”

“Yeah” Hinata admitted, unable to hide how upset he felt inside. “A person who is very important to me was hurt protecting me, and now he won’t wake up.”

And before Nishinoya’s astounded eyes, he retold the story from the previous night, with as much detail as he could; he even told him of the events that he felt had led up to it. How he’d ditched Kageyama, unable to cope with the things he’d learnt from him. How he had arrived to the dorm to find everyone worried, and how he’d sat with them until the clock struck midnight. How Kageyama arrived during the Dark Hour, bruised and out of breath, and informed them of the large shadow. And how the shadow had attacked the dorm and cornered them both on the roof. How Kageyama had abruptly awakened to his potential, and used his Persona to save Hinata’s life. How he’d collapsed, and hadn’t woken up since then. Nishinoya listened to him attentively, and when Hinata was finished, he sat up and tried to pat his shoulder; in his weakened state, however, he was only able to pat Hinata’s hand, and he contented himself with it.

“Don’t worry about it too much!” he grinned at Hinata, bright as the sun outside. “I was knocked out for like an entire day after using Io for the first time! He’ll be fine!”

“Really?” Hinata smiled a little, hopefully. “Hum… What’s _Io_?”

“Io is my Persona” Nishinoya pointed at himself, right at his chest. “She’s amazing! She’s totally the coolest persona out there. You’ll have to wait a bit more to see her in action, though…” he sighed in annoyance, and Hinata chuckled softly.

“What happened to you, anyway, Noya-san?” he asked curiously, seeing that the other boy didn’t seem too bothered about it. Something like sadness, or nostalgia, flickered in Nishinoya’s dark eyes, but immediately he was grinning again, laughing almost sheepishly.

“It was an accident! A friend lost control of his Persona and I took the blow, heheh!”

“R-Really? That can happen?” Hinata was a little alarmed at that. In his simple mind, Personas were good and shadows were bad. Personas protected people, and shadows attacked them. He hadn’t thought a Persona could attack another person, too. But Nishinoya didn’t seem too worried.

“Well, yeah! If you’re not strong enough to handle your Persona, if you get scared or hesitant and your Persona overpowers you, you may lose control of it. It’s rare, though; it’s just that my friend’s Persona is really strong, and he’s such a pussy. But it wasn’t his fault, really! Besides, I survived, right? I’ll be okay in no time, and I’ll be able to join you guys again. Just you wait!”

Nishinoya’s optimism was contagious. Hinata left the hospital that evening, but he kept returning every single day to check on Kageyama, and each time, when he found the black-haired boy sleeping still, undisturbed, he went to Nishinoya for comfort. The rest of the Karasuno Volleyball Team, Kiyoko included, visited every day after school, too, and each of them tried to cheer Hinata up in their own way, but Nishinoya’s words were always the most comforting. When he mentioned this to the others, he was met with a few knowing smiles.

“Well, that’s Nishinoya for you” Daichi said, affectionately. “He’s our guardian deity. I really hope he’ll be discharged from the hospital soon, we really need him to avoid something like what happened the other night.”

On the eighth day since the incident, when Hinata rushed to the hospital after school, he finally found Kageyama awake; he was sitting on his bed, drinking water from a white plastic cup, and when Hinata burst into the room he gave him a chastising glare.

“Keep it down, dumbass” he growled, his voice a little rough. “This is a hospital, you know.”

“K-Kageyama…!”

“I told you to keep it down! Hey…” Kageyama seemed to be at a loss as Hinata crawled on the bed and half-lied on top of him, wrapping both arms around his waist and resting his head on the black-haired boy’s stomach. “W-What do you think you’re doing, idiot?! Get off me!”

But Hinata simply squeezed tighter and buried his face in the sheets covering Kageyama’s belly.

“I was afraid you’d never wake up” he admitted, after a short pause. “I was so scared. I thought you were dead, and that it was my fault.”

“I was unconscious, Hinata” Kageyama sighed. “I wasn’t even close to dying, stop being so dramatic.”

“But…!”

“I’m fine, okay? I feel fine now” firmly, Kageyama grabbed his shoulders, pushing him into a sitting position. His angry expression faltered noticeably when he saw Hinata’s flushed, tear-streaked face. “H-Hey, don’t cry…”

“S-Sorry” Kageyama sighed in defeat as Hinata’s arms found their way around his neck this time. He allowed the small redhead to bury his face in the crook of his neck and sob, patting his head awkwardly until he calmed down and pulled away on his own, rubbing his reddened eyes and sniffling weakly. “I was scared. Y-You saved my life. If you died saving me, I don’t know what I would’ve done…”

“But it didn’t happen” Kageyama mumbled, grabbing a paper napkin from his bedside table to wipe away Hinata’s tears. “I didn’t die. We’re both okay, so let it go already.”

Hinata watched him, trembling a little under his surprisingly gentle touch; his face was as impassive as usual, his hair only a little messy after lying down for so long, and he did look a little pale, his lips dry and chapped but other than that, he was exactly the same person he’d met aboard the train, when the businessman fell asleep then turned into a coffin. Back then, he’d found Kageyama unpleasant; now he could only be glad he was back to normal. He didn’t look scared or vulnerable anymore; if anything, the look in his eyes was more determined than ever.

“Congratulations” Hinata whispered, once Kageyama’s hand pulled away from his face. “You really did it, you know? Your potential… N-Now you can fight the shadows. You were really awesome the other night, too! You went like bam! And your Persona pierced right through that shadow and poof! It disappeared! It was amazing!”

Hinata couldn’t help rising his voice as his anxiety left him and excitement took over. Kageyama gifted him with a rare smile, and grabbed his hair; though it was more like a caress than anything else.

“I told you to keep it down, dumbass.”


	6. 04.18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'll be fine. I'm not scared."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Kageyama gets a gun and Hinata gets confused over feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate exams. Don't you hate exams?
> 
> But I love comments. Thank you for 20+ kudos, by the way. It's more than I expected! Shout out to Eme for subtly poking me to keep writing.
> 
> So I reached 20.000+ words. I like to keep track of those things. Feels good, man. Anyway, enjoy the beginning of the development of the relationship between Hinata and Kageyama. Yeah, that's totally a thing that's gonna happen. Come for the obscure Persona 3-based AU plot, stay for the porn.

04.18

Kageyama surprisingly returned to school the following day. Hinata hadn’t been expecting him to; when he arrived that morning he didn’t think he’d see Kageyama there, and it was a little bit nostalgic, even if the heavy feeling in his stomach from not knowing whether he’d wake up or not had vanished completely. He was feeling a little nervous about going to the hospital after school, because he felt he’d done something embarrassing the day before – clinging to Kageyama and crying like a little scared child wasn’t exactly his definition of ‘dignified’ – but he still planned to go, just because he felt guilty imagining poor Kageyama alone and bored in his bed all day. He wished he’d introduced him to Nishinoya at least, that way the two could chat until Kageyama was discharged.

After the morning classes ended, he was thinking about just staying in the classroom for lunch, but as he reached inside his backpack for his lunchbox, a shadow fell upon him and when he looked up, he saw Kageyama standing right in front of his desk, lunchbox in hand and looking slightly flustered.

“Kageyama!” Hinata almost bounced from his seat in his surprise. Kageyama still looked a little pale and tired, but some color had returned to him and he was walking around and attending classes, so that probably meant he was okay. Once he recovered from the initial shock, Hinata’s wide grin seemed to light up the whole classroom. “Y-You’re here!”

Kageyama’s cheeks went slightly pink; many of Hinata’s classmates were staring at him, but still a small smile seemed to be tugging at his lips as he gave Hinata’s hair a slight tug.

“You don’t know how to keep it down, do you? Dumbass” Hinata angrily slapped his hands away, and the taller boy hesitated for a moment before asking: “Wanna go have lunch on the roof?”

“Yeah!”

Hinata followed Kageyama out of the classroom, ignoring his classmates’ stares as they exited and went up the stairs. There was nobody on the roof; the sky was a bit cloudy, but it was still fairly pleasant outside as they sat together on the concrete bench and began unpacking their lunch. Kageyama seemed curious as he peeked inside his lunchbox, and Hinata leaned in to take a look too; but there was nothing special inside, just a regular lunch.

“Is something the matter?”

“Not really” Kageyama seemed a little embarrassed. “It’s just that I didn’t know what was inside. I was discharged earlier this morning, so I didn’t make it. Kiyoko-san made it for me.”

“Wow” Hinata stared at the lunchbox with newfound respect. “You’re so lucky…”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

Hinata simply laughed Kageyama’s scowl off and focused on eating. A comfortable atmosphere settled between them; somehow, he felt he’d grown closer to Kageyama for some reason. Did near-death experiences always do that sort of thing to people? Make them feel closer, more protective of each other? After what had happened on that full moon night at the dorm, Hinata knew he owed his life to Kageyama, and he knew he had to do everything in his power to protect him, even if he could literally do nothing because he hadn’t awakened his own Persona, and only Kageyama could fight.

He looked up at the tall boy sitting next to him; Kageyama would become a fighter now, too. He would be risking his life to fight alongside Tanaka and the others.

“Are you happy?” he asked him, setting his lunchbox aside so that he could hug his knees to his chest. Kageyama gave him a questioning look. “You said you came here to find out how to fight the shadows, and to join the shadow fighting club, right? So, are you happy now?”

Kageyama seemed to consider his answer for a moment, his eyes fixed in a distant point in the horizon.

“I can’t say I’m happy” he confessed. “It’s not really something to be _happy_ about. But I’m glad I’m getting to do something, even if…”

“Even if…?”

Kageyama sighed softly, and turned to him with a slight, somewhat sad smile.

“I don’t like my Persona” he admitted. “He doesn’t look cool at all.”

Hinata let out a not-quite-forced laugh and shook his head.

“Silly Kageyama. So, what are you gonna do now?”

“Well, since now I can join the fight, Sugawara-san asked me to meet them at the top floor’s meeting room tonight. Apparently they’re going to formally welcome me to the team or something like that.”

“That’s great” although he was really happy for Kageyama, Hinata didn’t have it in him to sound really enthusiastic; he wasn’t exactly ecstatic to join the fight against the shadow, especially not after what had happened the last time he saw one of them, but he didn’t like feeling useless, either. And he definitely didn’t like feeling left out. Kageyama probably sensed this, because he immediately added:

“You can come too, you know. You obviously have the Potential, so it’s a matter of time until you’re allowed to join us, too. Might as well hear what they have to say.”

Hinata’s face lit up at his words.

“Then let’s go back together after school!”

Afternoon classes went by like a breeze after that; Hinata didn’t pay much attention anyway, but he felt bright and bubbly inside, having something to look forward to after so many days of idleness and sitting next to his sleeping friend until midnight. He felt a little bad he wouldn’t be visiting Nishinoya that afternoon, but he made a silent vow to see him the next day, which was a Sunday, and spent a good while chatting with him. Maybe he’d even bring Kageyama along and introduce them properly.

He rushed out of the classroom as soon as the teacher dismissed the class for the day, and he had to wait for a few minutes outside Kageyama’s classroom as his lesson hadn’t ended just yet. He almost ran into the teacher in his hurry to get inside as soon as they finished.

“Kageyama!”

The tall boy finished packing his things quickly, but not before smacking Hinata over the head with a textbook.

“For the last time, you’re gonna get us in trouble with all your yelling!”

“Geez, you’re no fun at all! At least let’s drop by somewhere to grab a bite before we…” but Hinata stopped himself as soon as he noticed Kageyama’s slightly pale, noticeably tired face. He obviously hadn’t recovered fully, and Hinata felt guilty for trying to drag him along when he obviously didn’t feel well. “Uh… Sorry, let’s just… Let’s go straight to the dorm today.”

“No, no” Kageyama shook his head and slung his bag over his right shoulder. “I’m pretty hungry, and I don’t have to be back until evening anyway, so it’s fine. Let’s stop by somewhere and eat.”

“O-Okay” Hinata felt like a spoiled brat as Kageyama led him out of the classroom with a subtle, gentle hand on his shoulder.

There was definitely something different about hanging out with Kageyama after the incident; before he’d felt like a burden to the taller boy, who simply went along because he had nothing better to do, or because he was simply too annoying to be ignored. But he didn’t sense that hostility from Kageyama anymore and he, in turn, no longer found the taller boy’s grumpy attitude bothersome. There was a sort of unsaid agreement between them, a shared secret they buried under bickering and teasing, a deeper level of understanding that Hinata felt they had reached. They were two people willing to give their lives for each other, there wasn’t anything to be doubted; they had forged a bond of sorts, faintly present and still unclear, but undeniably real.

Kageyama insisted they walked around the shops at Iwatodai Station for a bit, even if Hinata objected because he could see how tired the taller boy was; they still bought some sweets before heading to the dorm, and despite his worry, Hinata was happy. For once, it looked like Kageyama had really enjoyed their time together. When they arrived, they found Tanaka in the lounge, still fumbling with his overdue homework; he seemed to brighten up when the two younger students arrived. He was quick to leave his work to lead them upstairs to the fourth floor, where the meeting room was.

“Let’s go, guys, we’ve been waiting for you!”

Hinata couldn’t remember having been to the fourth floor before; sure, they had, on the night the shadow attacked, while they were escaping to the roof, but he was too panicked to remember what the place looked like. Tanaka guided them to the only door in sight; behind there was a large lounge, a bunch of computers and monitors on one side, and a set of couches and coffee tables in the middle. It looked like the lounge downstairs, save for the computers, and Hinata felt a little uneasy as every person in the room turned to them. He felt like he shouldn’t be there, but if that was the case, nobody decided to comment on it. Everyone was there, except for Nishinoya, of course; Daichi, Sugawara, Tanaka, Kiyoko, and a short black-haired man Hinata thought he’d seen before somewhere. He was sitting next to Sugawara, looking fidgety and kind of out of place with his green track suit, amongst all the students dressed in black. His glasses kept sliding down the bridge of his nose, and he kept pushing them up nervously. When the two younger students entered the room, he quickly stood up and bowed down, hastily introducing himself.

“M-My name is Takeda Ittetsu! I’ll be your faculty advisor starting this year. I-I don’t know much about the Dark Hour, or the shadows, b-but I’ll do my best to help you!”

Hinata felt he could relate to the jumpy teacher; both of them were completely overwhelmed by the situation and pretty much useless right then. Kageyama and he sat down side by side across the teacher and Sugawara, next to Daichi, who was sitting at the head of the table, obviously presiding the meeting. Sugawara, however, was the first one to talk in his soft, soothing voice.

“I take it you two already know a bit about the Dark Hour and the shadows, right?” he asked gently, and Kageyama and Hinata both nodded. “The Dark Hour is a period of time that happens every night at midnight. Most people sleep through it – like Takeda-sensei here – but some of us don’t. We’ve known this for a long time, I first awakened to it about four years ago. We don’t know when it started, and most of us didn’t dare tell anyone about it. I never spoke about it to anyone until I met Daichi” the captain and vice-captain exchanged a quick look; there was a silent understanding between them, and Hinata’s eyes drifted towards Kageyama. It was the same thing he felt he'd been experiencing with him all day. Did it have something to do with the Potential, too?

“When I met Koushi two years ago, we both joined the Karasuno volleyball club. We were the only first years in the team, along with a guy called Asahi” Daichi picked up where Sugawara had left off. “In any case, during a sleepover at a teammate’s house I woke up during the Dark Hour and I realized Sugawara hadn’t transmogrified into a coffin either. We kept it a secret between us for a while until someone caught us sneaking around the city during the Dark Hour, trying to pick a fight with some weak shadows.”

“That person was the Karasuno volleyball club’s coach” Sugawara chimed in. “Ukai-sensei. He was the one who made our weapons and Evokers and told us how to summon our Personas and fight. He was also the one who told us what the Dark Hour, the shadows and the Personas were, and the three of us formed a secret team to fight the shadows together with another guy who later dropped out of school. We called it S.E.E.S. – Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. Of course, at school they still think we’re the Karasuno volleyball club, and we still play volleyball because we like it! And because there are members of the club who are not in S.E.E.S. and know nothing about it.”

It was a lot of information to take in, Hinata thought, but that wasn’t anything new to him. It was just like when he found out about the Dark Hour; a bit confusing at first, but he’d fall into the rhythm of everyone else and continue his life as if he’d never found out at all, maybe with a little more risk of death or dismemberment, but otherwise normally.

Having said everything he wanted to, Sugawara turned to Kiyoko, who pulled a wooden box from underneath the table and presented it to Kageyama, opening the lid to reveal the contents. Resting in blue velvet there was a single silver gun, the letters S.E.E.S. engraved on the side. It was beautiful, Hinata thought, but also scary; Kageyama didn’t seem too impressed, however. He picked it up as if it was nothing and inspected it carefully.

“ _This_ is an Evoker, right?” he asked, and Hinata wondered where the hell he’d learnt that. Kageyama was simply too smart when it came to things related to the Dark Hour. Sugawara, seemingly impressed, nodded as well. “I gotta shoot myself with it?”

“Yes” Sugawara nodded again. “Take your time to get used to it, it can be intimidating at first, but…”

“I’ll be fine” Kageyama cut him off coldly, dropping the gun to his lap. “I’m not scared.”

Hinata couldn’t stop staring at him. Right then, Kageyama was the most amazing person in the world to him. How could anyone be so _cool_ about it? It was as if he’d seen it all before, but that was impossible.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Kageyama” Daichi spoke up then, and Kageyama turned to him. “You were the one who told Hinata here about the Dark Hour and the potential. You told Sugawara you came to Karasuno High School because you wanted to join S.E.E.S., so that means you knew all this before you came here. How did you learn so many things about the Dark Hour?”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, as if the temperature had dropped a bunch of degrees all of a sudden. Hinata couldn’t hear Kageyama breathing by his side anymore and when he turned to look at him, he found he was paler than he’d been a moment ago; his hands were fisted on his pants so tightly they were trembling. Feeling his chest tighten, he reached out to place his hand atop Kageyama’s left one; he didn’t know why he did it and he felt he’d made a mistake, but much to his surprise Kageyama seemed to calm down a little; at least, his hand wasn’t trembling anymore as he replied:

“Through a… friend. An older student from junior high.”

“I see” Sugawara cut the conversation short, and the tense atmosphere quickly dissipated again. Hinata didn’t miss the haunted look on Kageyama’s face, however. “Kageyama, although you already expressed your desire to join us, I want to formally welcome you as a member of S.E.E.S., and thank you for your cooperation. Your help is much appreciated.”

“Thank you for having me” Kageyama bowed his head a little. “I promise not to get in your way. I want to learn from you.”

“Don’t worry!” Tanaka roared out then, making Hinata startled; he’d completely forgotten about him. “Leave it to Tanaka-senpai to show you the ropes!”

“Yes. Thank you, Tanaka-senpai.”

“Hahaha! Say it again!”

“Now, now, Tanaka” Sugawara interrupted once again, smiling a little awkwardly. “Do you have any questions before we dismiss this meeting?”

Hinata knew the question was directed at Kageyama, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to ask.

“What about me? Sugawara-san, I want to join S.E.E.S. too. Can I?”

Kageyama glanced at him; Hinata didn’t see it, but he could feel it, the skin on the back of his neck crawling. Sugawara seemed a bit uncomfortable.

“I’m not sure” he confessed. “There are cases in which people who don’t have the Potential are still aware of the Dark Hour. I’m really sorry, Hinata, but I can’t let you join until we’re sure you have the Potential and have fully awakened to it. It’s too dangerous for you.”

“Can I at least go with Kageyama?” Hinata blurted out, and this time he did glance at his tall friend; Kageyama was flat-out staring at him right then. It was embarrassing. “I-I won’t be a burden, I just…”

“I’ll protect him” Kageyama backed him up, looking up at Sugawara. “I _know_ he has the Potential, so it’s better if he gets used to the Dark Hour and the shadows quickly. Let him come with me; I won’t let anything happen to him.”

Sugawara seemed uncertain, so it was Daichi who took the decision from him.

“We’ll think about it” he assured them. “Now, go to bed, guys. You look tired, especially you, Kageyama.”

“Yes. Thank you, captain.”

“Thank you, Daichi-san!”

After bowing and saying goodnight, the two first-years left the meeting room and silently made their way down to the second floor, where the boys’ rooms were. Hinata didn’t ask, but Kageyama quietly walked him to his door and only once they were in front of it, when Hinata turned around to face the taller boy, Kageyama almost toppled on top of him, asleep on his feet. Hinata barely caught him in time, not that he had the strength to hold him up anyway; he leaned back against his closed door, Kageyama resting on him.

“Hey! K-Kageyama! Wake up!”

“S-Sorry…”

“Geez, go to bed already! You’re just like an old man. And what was that all about anyway? You’ll _protect_ me? Why did you help me? I’ll probably just be a bother to you!”

Kageyama’s eyes slowly slipped open to meet his; despite being so tired, Kageyama still had a determined look on his face.

“If it had been the other way around, I would’ve wanted to be a part of it too, even if I were useless” he told Hinata, standing up straight once again. “And I would’ve wanted you to back me up, too.”

So he’d thought about dying to protect Kageyama, and Kageyama had done the same; and if it had been the other way around, he knew he would’ve backs Kageyama up and promised to protect him, too. Hinata smiled a little; really, something between them had changed. _Hurry up_ , he told himself, fantasizing he was talking to his sleeping Persona, _hurry up and wake up, so I can fight alongside this person._

“Thank you” he told Kageyama, sincerely. “Now go to bed, okay?”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Hinata.”

“Goodnight.”


	7. 04.19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Y’know, the craziest things always happen on a full moon for some reason."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Nishinoya tells a story and S.E.E.S. gets some interesting new members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The attention this fic has been getting since the last update is ridiculous. I'd never expected to get so much support! Kudos, bookmarks, comments, views - everything, it's awesome, thank you.
> 
> I've worked against the clock to finish this chapter while simultaneously studying for a final exam and trying to get six hours of sleep per night. But it's here, it's here and it's beautiful. I think.
> 
> I love Noya so much, I want to see him suffer.

Hinata got up early the next morning, looking forward to his day off school. Sundays were definitely his favorite day of the week, even though school was much more fun since he befriended Kageyama, but still, the lack of boring never-ending lessons was refreshing. He got dressed quickly and tried to comb his mess of a hair a little before promptly giving up and rushing out of his room. He’d been merely stalling for time so as not to have to cope with the fact the first thing he’d wanted to do when he woke up was to go and wake Kageyama up as well.

He’d never had a best friend, he guessed; and especially not one who’d gone and saved his life. He supposed that was the reason why he wanted to spend so much time with him, why he felt that special connection with the grumpy black-haired boy. He tried not to question it too much; he had enough things to get worked up over anyway. As long as Kageyama wasn’t bothered, he’d keep hanging around him.

He knocked on the door a few times and waited; when he got no answer right away, he knocked again, louder. Then he felt guilty, remembering Kageyama had only gotten out of the hospital the day before, and it was really, really early, he probably shouldn’t be bothering him as he needed to get as much rest as possible but just as he was about to turn and walk away, the door slipped open and a specially grumpy, slightly disheveled tall boy peeked through the opening, a noticeable dark aura emanating from him.

“You better have a _damn good reason_ to have woken me up this early, you _insufferable dumbass._ ”

Kageyama was scary first thing in the morning, Hinata decided, but part of him was glad; this was the usual Kageyama, and he didn’t look tired or sickly anymore, just moody as usual. That was enough for him.

“I do, actually! I want to go to the hospital today.”

“Huh?” Kageyama narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “The hospital? Are you alright?”

“Yeah!”

“Then why do you want to go back there? I just got out yesterday, I’m not going back just to visit.”

“But there _is_ someone I want to visit!” Hinata pouted stubbornly. “And I want to introduce you to him!”

Kageyama still seemed hesitant, so Hinata used the last resort he could find.

“He’s a S.E.E.S. member too. I thought you should meet him.”

As Hinata had expected, that caught Kageyama’s attention. The door slipped open a bit more, until he could see his friend completely; it was weird to see him in a worn-out T-shirt and boxers, Hinata felt he was looking at a completely different person than his dignified friend. Still, Kageyama’s eyes were as intense as ever, and it was that expression that reminded him this _normal_ person in front of him was still a powerful Persona user.

“A S.E.E.S. member” Kageyama repeated slowly. “And he’s in the hospital?”

“Yeah. He said it was an accident, he got hurt during a fight” Hinata explained briefly. “He’s really nice, I spoke to him a lot while I was… w-while we were waiting for you to wake up.”

“I see” Kageyama seemed thoughtful for a moment; then, as if having made a decision, he nodded and walked back into the room, slamming the door closed behind himself. Hinata panicked for a moment and began knocking again, until the inhabitant of the room yelled from the other side: “I’m getting dressed, you dumbass, just wait for me downstairs!”

Excited, Hinata rushed downstairs without another word. He found Daichi and Sugawara in the lounge, chatting quietly over steaming mugs of coffee, and he didn’t miss how Daichi quickly moved his hand away from where it had been tenderly resting on Sugawara’s thigh when Hinata showed up; he wished they would trust him more, he’d never think any less of them because of that. If anything, it was kind of cute, knowing how much they had been through together. He still pretended he hadn’t seen anything and greeted them both with a wide smile.

“Good morning, Daichi-san, Suga-san!”

“Good morning, Hinata” Sugawara smiled back at him; his sweet tone when he spoke reminded Hinata of his mother sometimes. It was good to have someone like that around, he didn’t feel homesick with someone like Sugawara around. “You look bright this morning! Got any plans for the day?”

“I do, actually!” Hinata nodded excitedly. “Kageyama and I are going to visit Noya-san at the hospital! I want Kageyama to meet him!”

“That’s great!” Daichi seemed honestly grateful that the first-years were so willing to keep their friend company. Hinata could only wonder how long Nishinoya had been in the hospital, and how long the third-years and Tanaka had spent going to the hospital every single day to visit him. He knew it probably sounded mean, but it was a drag; nobody liked hospitals. If they started visiting Nishinoya instead of the third-years some days, maybe they would be relieved of some of the burden; but that wasn’t the reason why Hinata wanted to do it. He honestly wanted to go see Nishinoya, he’d really grown attached to the second-year in the short time they’d spent together. “I’m sure he’ll be excited to see you two. Say hi to him for us, will you?”

“Sure. Oh, there you are, Kageyama!” Hinata rushed to the tall boy’s side as soon as he showed up at the foot of the stairs. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“How are you feeling?” Sugawara asked Kageyama before they left; Kageyama turned and gave him a rare, sincere smile.

“I’m okay now” he said, and Hinata didn’t miss the way the taller boy placed a hand on his back to gently guide him outside. He didn’t want to think too highly of himself, but he felt as though Kageyama had implied it was thanks to _him_ somehow, and that felt amazing.

Before taking the train to Port Island Station, Hinata insisted they get Nishinoya some sweets as a get-well gift, so they got him some soda-flavored candy at the sweets shop before riding the train they usually took to go to school; Hinata was grateful they didn’t have to actually go to school this time around, as much as he’d wanted to go to Karasuno, he didn’t exactly like school. It was the volleyball club he was interested in. Both he and Kageyama agreed they were looking forward to club activities other than fighting shadows; much to Hinata’s surprise, Kageyama was as interested in volleyball as he was in fighting the shadows, probably even more. Talking to Kageyama about it made the flame in his chest rekindle, and he simply couldn’t wait to play with him on the same team.

Before they went to the hospital, Hinata insisted they get a proper breakfast somewhere, or at least a coffee – _you need the energy, you were so tired last night!_ – and after a lot of convincing and more than a bit of begging, he managed to drag Kageyama to Paulownia Mall to have a coffee at Chagall Café. Kageyama seemed a bit jumpy at first – he confessed, hands trembling as he held his steaming cup, that he hadn’t been there since the first time he went with Hinata – but slowly he relaxed under the spell of the Pheromone Coffee and the soothing effect of Hinata’s small talk. Hinata thought he saw him smile slightly as he finished his coffee, and he realized Kageyama was handsome when he smiled; if only he did that more often, he thought, he’d probably be really popular with the girls, what with his height and his dark eyes and hair; he really looked cool. But then he imagined it was probably the effect of the coffee, because as they left the mall, bickering about something or other, he confirmed grumpy Kageyama wasn’t handsome at all, and no girl would ever want to date him, like ever. And he made sure to tell Kageyama that very clearly too.

The hospital was much more crowded on Sundays; many people who had the day off took the chance to visit sick relatives or close friends. Hinata even met one of his classmates whose little sister had broken an arm playing at the playground near the shrine, and he spoke to her for a little bit until Kageyama’s tugging on his sleeve became too insistent and he was forced to say goodbye. He led Kageyama to the very last door down the corridor and knocked twice, Nishinoya’s cheerful voice giving him permission to come in.

The second-year’s eyes glowed with delight when he saw Hinata walk into the room, a very shy Kageyama following him closely and shutting the door behind them. Tanaka was there too, sitting on a plastic chair next to Nishinoya’s bed; by the bed’s feet there was a tray with some empty cups and plates, the remnants of their shared breakfast. Tanaka greeted them with a sincere smile, no malice intended, and Hinata realized just how important Nishinoya was to all of them; they seemed so happy just to know they were visiting him. He felt bad for Nishinoya; it probably got lonely sometimes, to be confined to that little room.

After introducing Kageyama to Nishinoya – and watching him pale when Nishinoya and Tanaka started joking about some “S.E.E.S. initiation ritual of pain and doom” – Hinata put the tray aside and sat by the sickly boy’s feet, offering him their little get-well present.

“We brought you some sweets, Noya-san… Hum… Though I don’t know if you can actually have them?”

“Oh, I can have them now! Don’t worry!” Nishinoya’s delight was equal to that of a little kid as he received the bag of sweets. “Awesome, soda flavor!”

“I’m glad you like them!”

“May I ask” Kageyama spoke quietly then, from his place leaning on the wall right next to the door, and all heads turned to him, “what happened to you exactly?”

Tanaka shot him a nasty look at his question, but Hinata looked at Nishinoya instead; he wanted to know more about the accident too, and Nishinoya hadn’t seemed bothered about it the one time they spoke, so he didn’t think Kageyama had actually fucked up, even if he’d been a little too direct.

“Why’d you go and ask that, huh, you little punk?”

“It’s okay, Ryuu!” Nishinoya gently patted the bed in his friend’s general direction, since he couldn’t actually sit up and pat him directly. Hinata winced as he saw him struggle just to lay down more comfortably against the pillows. “Ow, shit… I-I don’t mind. You guys wanna know what happened?”

Hinata and Kageyama exchanged a quick look before nodding in unison. Ignoring Tanaka’s pout, Nishinoya focused on playing with a candy wrapping between his fingers as he began speaking.

“It happened on February, near the beginning of the month. I remember it was a full-moon night. Y’know, the craziest things always happen on a full moon for some reason.

“Kiyoko-san detected a powerful shadow while we patrolled the city. We met up by Port Island Station and followed her lead to the alleyway where the shadows were; they were strong ones, stronger than we’d ever encountered, of course, we didn’t stand a chance.

“At that time there were six of us in the team; Tanaka and I, Kiyoko-san, Suga and Daichi and… Asahi-san.”

Hinata watched Nishinoya’s face attentively; his expression seemed to change as he mentioned that still unfamiliar name. Nishinoya’s smile was warm and nostalgic, and Hinata thought that, for the first time since he’d met him he looked truly, honestly happy. There was a certain familiarity in Nishinoya’s expression. Hinata couldn’t put a finger on it; and then Nishinoya spoke again.

“Asahi-san was the one who found me when I first awoke to the Dark Hour. If he hadn’t found me, I would’ve been devoured by those shadows. He really saved my life, and I admired him so much since then… even if he was a big wimp most of the time.”

There it was, Hinata thought; he could relate to Nishinoya’s feelings. Owing your life to someone was truly amazing, and not necessarily bad.

“Asahi-san had trouble summoning his Persona from the very start” Nishinoya looked down sadly. “His Persona was really powerful for a beginner User, and he was afraid of summoning him. He once told me he was scared his Persona would take control of him, and that he would cease to exist and his Persona would take over his body and his life. Even if I tried to get him to make peace with Castor, there was just no way to convince him. Seeing him struggle with himself, and with the anger, fear and helplessness his Persona made him feel, was more painful than anything that could’ve happened to me.”

“Noya” Tanaka berated him, and Nishinoya continued to ignore him and play with the candy wrapping, as if he were in a trance.

“That night” he continued, as if he’d never been interrupted at all, “that full moon night, we were pushed to the limit by those shadows. Daichi got hurt, Tanaka and Suga were tired, Kiyoko-san was too distressed to fight anymore and I was weakened by their electric attacks – electricity is Io’s weakness, but don’t tell anyone, okay? So Asahi-san was the only one who could still fight, but I knew he didn’t want to. I _knew_ something horrible was going to happen; he hadn’t been feeling well, his Persona had been acting up, causing him a lot of stress and pain, and I could just sense something was going to go terribly wrong. I told him not to do it, but Suga and Daichi – they never believed Asahi-san had trouble controlling his Persona, they thought he was just a coward who had to overcome his fear – they pushed him so hard and I know he wanted to protect us all so badly!”

“Noya” Tanaka warned him again, softer this time; Hinata felt heartbroken as he saw Nishinoya fighting not to tear up against his will. He would’ve told him it was enough, that they didn’t need to know, but the words kept flowing from the small boy’s mouth, like a torrent.

“He’s got such a good heart – he’s the kindest person I’ve ever met – he just couldn’t do anything! His Persona killed those shadows, and then… I knew it was gonna happen! Castor finally turned on him” Nishinoya gripped the candy wrapping as hard as he could, and it made a crumpling noise in his hand. “His worst fear had become true… His own Persona was about to kill him with this big-ass sword… What else was I supposed to do?”

Hinata’s heart began racing. With just those words he could imagine exactly what had happened, and he realized a bit too late that he didn’t want to hear it, that it was making his stomach turn and his chest ache and he didn’t want to know, but Nishinoya didn’t stop there.

“I just _couldn’t not shield him, guys_.”

Hinata swallowed thickly; when he looked up at Kageyama, he saw he’d turned pale again. The tall boy licked his lips to wet them, and then he spoke quietly once again.

“And… what happened?”

Hinata wanted to just kill _him_ for asking, but Nishinoya didn’t seem to mind; if anything, it almost sounded like he was bragging as he recounted the damage.

“Well, I don’t remember anything after I jumped in front of him, of course; but the sword ran me through right here” he traced a finger along his torso, around the left side of his belly. “I think it was meant to pierce me through the heart but he didn’t have time to aim that well. The sword was big, though, so it was quite a lot of damage; I lost _a lot_ of blood, part of my liver and my left kidney, I had a wound in my stomach, like three broken ribs, a pierced lung, and my spine suffered a bit of damage too; I’m lucky I’m still able to walk, though I’m still rehabilitating. Hell, I’m lucky I’m alive!”

Hinata could only imagine how the guy whose Persona had hurt Nishinoya must’ve felt; they were obviously close, so it had probably been painful for him to be the cause of his friend’s near-death experience.

“Asahi-san quit school and left the dorm after that” Tanaka shook his head. “He couldn’t even face us.”

“I feel terrible for him” Nishinoya admitted, letting the candy wrapping fall to the bed sheets. “I wish he’d just come and visit me already… That way I could just tell him it was totally not his fault.”

“He never visited you?” Kageyama asked suddenly, sounding surprised; Hinata felt somewhat proud, both for having visited Kageyama every day, and for choosing to visit Nishinoya, too. Nishinoya laughed it off, but it was obvious he was still upset.

“I’m sure he’ll show up any day now! That’s just how Asahi-san is!”

The conversation then moved on to more light matters and they actually enjoyed themselves. Around lunchtime Tanaka left – something about promising his sister he’d have lunch with her – so Kageyama and Hinata decided to stay with Nishinoya for a while longer. It was well into the afternoon when they realized Nishinoya was beginning to slip in and out of slumber – a nurse had come in a while before and given him some pills, since he complained about pain – and they decided it was time to let him sleep. They gave him Daichi’s and Sugawara’s regards and then left the hospital together.

“It’s horrible” Kageyama mumbled as they made their way back to the station. “What happened to that guy…”

“Nishinoya.”

“No, not him. That Asahi-san” Kageyama didn’t seem fazed by Hinata’s look of confusion. “That night, I didn’t feel I had much control over what was going on, either. I barely remember it. What if I had attacked you as well as the shadow?”

Hinata didn’t know how to answer, so he went with the most logical option.

“But it didn’t happen.”

“I know, but what if it had? What if it _happens_ in the future? Maybe it’s not such a good idea, you coming with me when I go out to fight shadows. I wouldn’t want to have to go visit _you_.”

“C’mon, Kageyama!” Hinata was beginning to feel a bit irritated. “You’re nothing like that guy! He was afraid of his Persona, that’s why he couldn’t control it! You’re not afraid at all, you’re readier than anyone else to fight, and I trust you completely!” he wasn’t even aware of what he was saying anymore; he just wanted Kageyama to stop worrying about him. “You’ll never be like him, okay? Just stop.”

Kageyama said nothing more after that, just a quiet nod to show his understanding. They got off the train at Iwatodai Station and dropped by the takoyaki stand – the takoyaki was weird, as usual – before heading back to the dorm for the day.

When they entered the lounge, they found Sugawara and Daichi still there, now with Kiyoko, Takeda-sensei and two first-year kids Hinata recognized from his class; he’d never spoken to them, but they were always together. One of them stood out particularly because he was very tall, taller than Kageyama even; he had short blond hair and glasses, and Hinata thought he was kind of a dick the first time he saw him because he was making fun of some guy in their class. He didn’t need that kind of negative, mean-spirited people around. The other kid had brown hair and freckles all over his cheeks; he was usually hanging around the tall blond guy, but he seemed rather weak and insecure himself, even though Hinata had nothing against him; he seemed like a pretty friendly guy, at least while his blond friend wasn’t around.

“It’s good to see you, guys” Sugawara greeted them, and motioned for them to come forward so that he could introduce them. “These are Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi, from class 1-F. Both of them are Persona users, Daichi found them last week, and they both agreed to join us, so they’ll be staying here at the dorm from now on, okay? Please, get on well” and turning to the two new kids, he added. “Boys, this is Kageyama Tobio. He recently joined too, but he knows a lot about the shadows and the Dark Hour, so feel free to ask him anything you want to know, okay?”

Tsukishima, the blond guy with the glasses, gave Kageyama a look then; Hinata didn’t like that look one single bit. It was too inquisitive. After saying some awkward goodbyes, he dragged Kageyama upstairs, feeling a strange sort of uneasiness he’d never experienced before; he didn’t know exactly why, but he didn’t trust Tsukishima one single bit. Kageyama sensed his discomfort, and he crossed his arms and confronted him.

“What’s with you, Hinata?”

“I don’t know, I just…”

But just then, they heard footsteps behind them and they both turned at the same time. Tsukishima was standing in the corridor, smirking at them while Yamaguchi stood behind him, staring at them over his blond friend’s shoulders with curiosity, standing on his tiptoes. Hinata tensed up instinctively, but Kageyama didn’t seem fazed, as usual; if he hadn’t seen him worried or scared before, he would’ve thought Kageyama was the kind of person who was always stoic, no matter the circumstances.

“Can I help you?” Kageyama asked, probably remembering Sugawara had told the new kids to ask him if they had any questions. Tsukishima took a step forward, and Hinata moved closer to Kageyama unconsciously.

“I was just wondering” Tsukishima started talking; there was malice in his voice, Hinata wasn’t fooled by his mockingly sweet smile, “why a third-year student who has years of experience fighting shadows would tell us to ask _you_ , a beginner like us, about our doubts. Isn’t it fishy?”

Kageyama frowned a little, but it was Hinata who stepped forward this time.

“Maybe Suga-san doesn’t feel like dealing with newbies like you?”

Tsukishima wrinkled his nose, looking down at Hinata as though he was a spot of dirt on his shoe.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Hinata Shouyou” Hinata replied quickly; even if they were in the same class, they’d never spoken, so he didn’t really mind that Tsukishima didn’t know his name. He hadn’t known his, either. “I’m Kageyama’s partner.”

Silence followed Hinata’s claim; it had been bold of him, Hinata thought, proclaiming he was Kageyama’s partner when he hadn’t even awoken his own Persona, but Kageyama did nothing to contradict him and if Tsukishima had any suspicions, which he probably did, he chose to ignore Hinata in favor of turning to Kageyama again.

“I saw you at Moonlight Bridge just before the Dark Hour the other day” he told him. “A large shadow showed up there just after that. Is that a coincidence?”

Kageyama flinched visibly, his hands balling up into fists. Hinata looked up at his friend, a worried frown on his face; they exchanged a quick look, and that haunted look was back in Kageyama’s eyes. Hinata knew, right then and there, that it hadn’t been him; that whatever had happened hadn’t been his fault, and that he was begging for help.

“Kageyama had nothing to do with that” Hinata said then, his voice firm even though his body was shaking. “If anything, we were lucky he was there. He warned us about the shadow, and he defeated it and saved my life. I won’t let you accuse him for no reason.”

Tsukishima glared at him, and his glare was definitely intimidating, but Hinata didn’t let his defiant demeanor falter; he knew Tsukishima didn’t trust Kageyama but he, in turn, didn’t trust Tsukishima. The confrontation was cut short when Tsukishima turned around and left, entering the first room down the corridor, Yamaguchi following him closely. Hinata was left feeling unfulfilled; he would’ve wanted to at least yell at him. Kageyama, however, seemed relieved.

“Thank you” he said softly, and Hinata blinked up at him as though he’d forgotten he was still there.

“Uh… Yeah. But Kageyama, why were you at the Moonlight Bridge that night?”

Hinata’s voice was free from any kind of suspicion; if anything, he just sounded worried. Kageyama sighed and scratched his head, looking down guiltily.

“I’ll tell you some other time, okay?”

“Okay” Hinata didn’t question him much then; it was obvious Kageyama was hiding something, and whatever it was, it was troubling him. He just hoped his friend would tell him before it was too late, or something really serious happened to him. “Don’t worry about it too much, okay?”

Kageyama nodded lightly, then looked up at him with a soft smile and ruffled his hair a little.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it, either.”

Hinata’s heart was pounding as he closed the door to his room behind himself. He had a feeling it wasn’t from worry; still, Tsukishima’s malicious expression still haunted his thoughts until he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a certain Facebook user who probably hates Asahi so much right now.


	8. 04.20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That place’s gonna be the death of us.”
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Coach Ukai takes the kids on a field trip and everyone gets weapons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This shouldn't have taken this long to write. I feel terrible about that. Really, I know I shouldn't feel terrible, but I do. It's done, though, and I think it's decent. I just had to get the tutorial out of the way, you know? With this chapter, the introductory part of the game is done. From next chapter on, the story will advance much faster, and probably diverge more from the game's canon. But don't worry, Persona 3 fans - the important things will still be there. If you know what I mean. Yeah, I mean those.
> 
> I'm horrible at describing and I've already been told so - no, not really, but some people have been kind enough to point out some things related to the game are difficult to imagine with descriptions only, so at the end of the chapter you'll find some useful references, especially for Personas, which are a huge pain to describe, but look totally badass.
> 
> Thanks for kudos, comments, bookmarks, and 550 views! Wow! I've been noticed by so many senpais!

Monday came and with it, another school day. Hinata yawned as he groggily made his way to the front stairs; he hadn’t even had the strength to race Kageyama to the building, he let him win that time. He hated Mondays with a passion and, in a sense, he felt lucky his life was still normal enough that he could go on hating Mondays and falling asleep in class and doing what he always did. When he first arrived to Iwatodai, and experienced his first Dark Hour, he’d expected his life to never be the same. And yet, he sleepily walked to school like everyone else. He felt blessed.

A hand felt on his shoulder just as he began to climb the stairs, and he stopped and turned around, a little bit surprised; he instinctively expected it to be Kageyama, who else would approach him like that? But instead, be found Tanaka standing behind him; he gave him a curious look, wondering what he wanted. He was friendly with Tanaka, but they didn’t exactly talk much; he didn’t talk much to anyone but Kageyama, really. He felt that was kind of wrong of him.

“Tanaka-san” he smiled at him. “What’s up?”

“You look sleepy, Hinata!” the older student ruffled his hair a little, making him giggle. “Did you stay up late last night?”

“Heh, not really! But it’s really early!”

“You’re always pretty full of energy, it’s weird to see you tired” Tanaka grinned, and then leaned in a little closer, as to make the conversation more intimate. Curious, Hinata leaned up on his tiptoes, so the taller student could whisper in his ear. “Hey, Hinata. What do you think of the new guys? That Tsukishima… I don’t like him.”

“Me neither” Hinata replied automatically. “After we went upstairs last night, he followed us and began bothering Kageyama.”

“Really?” Tanaka frowned a bit. “He has some nerve… Bothering a more experienced member of our team.”

“But Kageyama is a new member too…”

“Well, you two were in our team longer than them anyway!” Tanaka declared, crossing his arms and standing up very straight. “That means you’re their senpai in S.E.E.S. and they need to show you respect!”

Hinata was too stunned to reply; Tanaka ruffled his hair again and wished him a good day before rushing inside with a yell of “Kiyoko-saaan!” – he’d probably spotted the girl somewhere – and Hinata was left standing still outside, touching his own hair as the fact sunk in that at least one member of S.E.E.S. considered _him_ a member as well, even though he couldn’t do anything to help them. Although he knew he was practically useless to them, those little signs of acceptance – Kageyama allowing him to call himself his _partner_ , Tanaka considering him a member of the team – made him feel warm and happy inside. In a much brighter mood, he headed inside.

During lunchtime, he went looking for Kageyama as usual; his friend’s classmates didn’t even look at him funny anymore, they were used to the short redhead bouncing inside each lunch break already. Some of them even waved a hand or nodded his way; Kageyama was finishing up some classwork, so he sat down on the vacant desk next to him – whoever occupied it was probably having lunch outside – and waited for him to finish. Just as Kageyama was putting away his notebook, however, another visitor came in; a much more unexpected one. All heads turned their way as Kiyoko entered the classroom, looked around for a moment and, as soon as she spotted them, began walking their way.

There were whispers all around them, and Hinata wished they would just shut up – Kiyoko _was_ incredibly beautiful, but she didn’t need all that unwanted attention, and he thought she’d be uncomfortable – but she didn’t seem to notice as she stopped in front of them.

“We need you two to come back to the dorm right after school” she said simply. “We want to discuss club activities with you.”

_Club activities_. Hinata knew what she meant, of course; her tone was more than clear. Kageyama simply nodded, but Hinata felt he needed to confirm something – he knew desperately seeking for approval wasn’t right, or healthy, but he just needed to know, he _wanted_ it to be true…

“Kiyoko-san” he asked, a little breathless, and more than a little bit shy. “Me… M-Me too…?”

The girl turned to him and stared as though she didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Hum… Yeah?” it was the first time Hinata heard her hesitate like that. “Didn’t you say you wanted to go with Kageyama so you’d know what to do in advance? You should be there, too.”

“O-Okay! I’ll be there, then!”

Neither Kageyama nor Kiyoko probably understood Hinata’s unusually large smile – but inside, he felt happier than he’d ever been.

Afternoon classes seemed long and boring, as he was looking forward to the meeting after class so intently he could barely focus on anything but how slowly the hands of the clock were moving. When the final bell rang at last, Hinata jumped to his feet, and just as the teacher left the classroom, Kageyama walked in; Hinata practically bounced towards him, grinning.

“Ready to go?”

“You look awfully happy considering the kind of club activities we’ll be doing from now on” Kageyama mumbled, giving him a reproachful look, and Hinata felt a little guilty, but he couldn’t really help it; it wasn’t that he was happy the whole Dark Hour thing was happening, he was just glad to be considered part of S.E.E.S. even though he still didn’t have his Persona.

“Sorry” he whispered, and Kageyama sighed a little.

“It’s okay” he waved it off; he probably understood, Hinata thought, or at least, he hoped. “C’mon, let’s grab a bite at that weird Takoyaki place and head home.”

“That place’s gonna be the death of us.”

“Yeah, probably. Death by awful takoyaki.”

“I expected a much cooler way for us to go out in.”

Kageyama snorted. When Hinata asked whether he had just laughed, he blushed and said no.

They met at the fourth floor’s meeting room again, and once again Hinata found someone he didn’t know in the room, sitting at the head of the table, where Daichi had been the last time. It was a young man, probably around his late twenties, wearing sports clothes. The man had wild bleached-blond hair and looked rather annoyed to be there; a cigarette dangled from his lips, and despite Takeda’s glares, he didn’t put it out.

“Oh, guys, you’re here” it was Sugawara, as usual, who greeted Kageyama and Hinata as they walked inside. “We’ve been waiting for you, please take a seat. By the way, this is Ukai Keishin” he motioned towards the blond man, who nodded his head gruffly. “He’s the grandson of coach Ukai, the man who taught us about the Dark Hour and how to summon our Personas.”

“I’m no Dark Hour expert, though” Ukai warned them. “I probably know as much as you do.”

“Coach Ukai fell ill earlier this year” Takeda spoke up then, looking a bit sheepish; it was weird, Hinata thought. As a teacher, he should’ve probably been used to speaking in public. But he probably felt the same as Hinata himself; that he was surrounded by people who were better than him. “So he can’t continue coaching the volleyball team and guiding the S.E.E.S. in their battle against the shadows. And since I don’t know much about either, especially the Dark Hour because I’ve never actually experienced it, I’ve asked Ukai-kun to help us, and he has very kindly accepted.”

“I had to” Ukai glanced at him. “You wouldn’t stop bugging me otherwise.”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“We’re very thankful” Daichi smiled, a hint of nostalgia in his expression. “Coach Ukai wasn’t able to leave us any instructions before he collapsed and had to retire.”

“Ah, don’t worry. He’s told me more or less what he would’ve wanted to do with you guys, he just didn’t have enough people at the time, after one of you was injured and another one left the team. But Takeda-sensei here told me there’s a whole bunch of you now.”

“We have four new members now” Sugawara said, nodding. “One of them isn’t ready for battle yet, but the rest of them are. Of course, as long as they accept to be a part of S.E.E.S., too.”

Hinata felt his heart begin racing, both from nervousness and excitement. Sugawara had confirmed him as a new member – he was officially a part of S.E.E.S., even though he still couldn’t fight, he was still a part of them. He couldn’t remember a time he’d felt happier; he’d never been part of a team before, he’d never felt like he truly _belonged_ anywhere and now, he did. He smiled up at Kageyama and the taller boy gave him a small smile in return. It was thanks to him, Hinata thought, everything was thanks to him. He owed this person the world.

Sugawara presented Tsukishima and Yamaguchi with their Evokers first; both of them accepted to join the S.E.E.S. – Tsukishima looking quite disinterested and Yamaguchi seeming positively scared by the gun – and satisfied with their answers, Sugawara addressed Hinata next.

“Hinata, we have considered your request to join us even though you haven’t awakened to your potential yet. You’re aware that this is very risky and that if you find yourself in a tight spot on your own, you might be in serious danger, right?”

“Yes” Hinata nodded, knowing he’d never be alone anyway. “I’m… okay with that.”

“And you’re aware that, for now, your only option in case you were attacked and your partners couldn’t protect you is to run, even if that means leaving them behind, right?” Daichi chimed in. Hinata hesitated before giving his answer; unlike Kageyama, he could do nothing to protect anyone. He could only protect himself, and that was to a certain extent only. He realized he’d be a burden; he was beginning to reconsider his choice, when he felt something jagging into his back. He looked up at Kageyama, and noticed the boy was staring at him out the corner of his eyes. The look in his dark irises sent a clear message; _do it._

“Yes. For now” Hinata said then. Daichi nodded, and Sugawara pushed a third open box towards Hinata. The Evoker glowed in its velvet box; it looked exactly like the rest, and Hinata picked it up almost reverently. Its weight was comfortable in his hand. His insecurities were soothed as he held it.

“I want you to hold onto that, Hinata” Sugawara explained. “Use it whenever you feel ready.”

Hinata felt much more comfortable knowing that, if he was ever in real trouble, he could at least try to use the Evoker and fight. It was a better prospect than knowing he could do nothing. Once everyone had given his consent to participate in S.E.E.S. activities, the blond man, Ukai, spoke again.

“Alright. Now that’s settled, I’ll explain what my grandfather’s plan was. You’ve probably heard about Tartarus, haven’t you?” Daichi, Sugawara and Kageyama all nodded. “Do you know what Tartarus is?” Kageyama nodded again, but Sugawara and Daichi hesitated and looked at each other.

“It’s… a sort of tower, right?” Daichi ventured.

“Coach Ukai never told us exactly what it was” Sugawara explained. “He showed us where it was and asked us to stay away from there, and to keep everyone away from there until we were stronger, but… That’s all.”

After hearing the two third-years out, Ukai turned to Kageyama, the only other person in the group who claimed to know about Tartarus. Hinata felt himself tense up as they waited for Kageyama to explain what he knew; part of him simply didn’t want Kageyama to know anything, just because everytime he revealed his unexplainable knowledge of the Dark Hour events, that haunted look returned to his eyes, and he could sense Tsukishima was staring at his friend with suspicion. He gave the blond a defiant glare, warning him to shut his mouth. He knew he couldn’t fight him but hell if he was willing to try.

“Tartarus is the shadows’ nest” Kageyama said then, no hesitation in his voice. “It’s a high tower that appears only during the Dark Hour, and that’s where the shadows spawn, and then go out into the city.”

Ukai nodded at his words, confirming he was indeed right.

“My grandfather believed that exploring Tartarus would give us clues about why the Dark Hour and the shadows exist, and how to make them disappear forever. Of course, exploring Tartarus is risky and we need a strong team, but I think we could manage with the new members” Ukai glanced at the first-years, studying them for a moment. “Have you guys ever been in a real battle?”

Hinata shook his head; Tsukishima and Yamaguchi did the same, but Kageyama seemed hesitant. In the end, he nodded, and Hinata heard Tsukishima click his tongue at the black-haired boy.

“Is there anything you don’t know, shadow king?”

“You’re just jealous because you don’t know shit” Hinata barked back, and that effectively shut Tsukishima up. Ukai nodded, having reached a decision.

“Then I’ll start with you. The first floors of Tartarus are a good place to get you training, the weaker shadows live there. I’ll let you guys clear the way to the second block, then the more experienced fighters will join you.”

“W-What?” Sugawara seemed concerned. “You’re sending them into Tartarus on their own? But… They’ve never even fought before…”

“Having stronger fighters go through the first levels is a waste of time, you’re better off training against stronger shadows that may wander outside Tartarus” despite his previous claims that he didn’t know much about the Dark Hour and the shadows, Hinata thought, Ukai still sounded pretty sure of himself as he coached them. “Don’t worry” he added, turning to Sugawara. “Kiyoko and I will be there to support them and help them if anything happens. I’ll only let them explore the second floor tonight, okay?”

Sugawara finally agreed, and they sat in silence for a long moment. Hinata knew that, without saying anything, they were all waiting for the same thing: the Dark Hour. After a moment, he got bored and began poking Kageyama, who quickly got annoyed and pushed him away, commencing a wrestling match that was only interrupted when the lights suddenly went out. Hinata let out a scream when he saw there was a coffin amongst them.

“H-Holy shit…!”

“Calm down, Hinata, you’ve seen those before” Kageyama rolled his eyes, trying to pry the trembling redhead from his body. “It’s Takeda-sensei. He’s fine, he’ll be sleeping there safely until we get back.”

“Let’s get moving, guys” Ukai stood up; he was still there, Hinata noted. Was he a Persona user, too? “I’ll show you where Tartarus is. Kiyoko, please come with us.”

“Yes.”

Sugawara insisted to see them off at the door; Hinata felt a little nostalgic as they walked away, and he looked back to see the silver-haired third-year standing there, watching them go. It reminded him of his mother and sister, standing at the station and waving as the train took him farther and farther from them. They were alone right then; were they sleeping in coffins, too? What if Natsu woke up and found herself all alone? His lips tightened, and his walking pace slowed down a bit. The weight of the Evoker in his jacket pocket was heavier than ever.

“Hinata” Kageyama called out to him then; he was standing a little further ahead. “C’mon, don’t stay behind.”

True, Hinata thought, he’d completely forgotten he needed to stay close to Kageyama at all times, or he’d find himself alone and vulnerable. He ran after him and they followed Coach Ukai’s lead to Iwatodai Station. It was strange, Hinata thought, to see a place he was so familiar with in a completely new light; or rather, a completely new darkness. Seeing the takoyaki stand he and Kageyama frequented in shadows and with blood splattering the counter gave him a horrible feeling of dread in his stomach. His hand unconsciously reached out for Kageyama’s, but when their fingers brushed and the taller boy turned to him questioningly, he quickly pulled his hand back, blushing. He couldn’t act so scared, otherwise he’d just get left behind next time.

Coach Ukai led them to the train that had stopped at the station; however, instead of taking it, he jumped down onto the tracks and began following them. Kiyoko, Kageyama and Tsukishima followed without hesitation, but Yamaguchi and Hinata stopped there.

“W-What if the train begins moving?” Yamaguchi whispered, and Tsukishima glanced at him over his shoulder.

“It doesn’t work, idiot. Nothing works during the Dark Hour, remember?”

“Not even the trains?” Hinata asked, and this time, it was Kiyoko who answered.

“Anything that’s electric will stop during the Dark Hour, so it’s fine. The train won’t move.”

Finally convinced, the two of them followed the rest of the group down the tracks. They got off at Port Island Station and followed a very well-known path. Hinata didn’t realize where they were going, however, until Yamaguchi spoke.

“Isn’t this the way to school?”

“That’s where Tartarus appears” Kageyama replied. “It’s only visible and accessible during the Dark Hour, though.”

“What? At school?” Hinata exchanged an amazed look with Yamaguchi. “Wow…”

The tower was visible from far away, but Hinata only realized how huge it really was when they were right at the school gates. A golden door led inside; the tower seemed to extend upwards infinitely, up into the green moon, twisted and confusing, full of balconies broken in half and doors and stairs that led nowhere, turning and drooping like a plastic tower that was melted by a fire. It seemed to glow slightly green, just like the moon, and Hinata could almost feel the energy of millions of shadows lurking inside. He felt terrified, and excited, all at once; it was a familiar feeling now.

“Let’s go” Ukai ordered, and they followed him and Kiyoko inside. She seemed comfortable, so Hinata hurried his pace to walk next to her and asked:

“Kiyoko-san, have you been here before?”

“No, not really” Kiyoko replied. “But I’ve scanned the tower a few times, so it doesn’t feel like an unknown place.”

“Scanned?”

“It’s my Persona’s ability” she explained. “Penthesilea acts like a radar. She can detect shadows, and tell what type they are and what their weakness is. All shadows have weaknesses that you can exploit in battle. That’s why I mostly provide the others with information, instead of fighting. I hope I’ll be able to help you when you’re inside Tartarus, too.”

Inside, the first floor of the tower was high and circular; there was a row of bluish grey columns all around them, the walls were dark and the floor was checkered, black and white like a chess board, with a single golden-rimmed white path that led up to the large blue-carpeted stairs in the center of the room. Off to the left of the stairs, there was a golden grandfather clock, randomly standing there and emitting a soft white glow; to the right there was a green and golden device that Hinata could only describe as a sort of platform, or maybe some kind of teleporting device, he’d never seen anything like it before. It didn’t look like it was working, though, so he let it be for the moment. Instead, he turned towards the stairs; at the top there was a sort of portal, shaped like the face of a clock, large and golden. Hinata would’ve thought this was the most bizarre place he’d ever been in, but he’d been to the Velvet Room already, so he couldn’t say he hadn’t found himself in strange places before. Ukai allowed them to explore for a bit longer before calling them so that they regrouped around him.

“I want you to go up to the second floor” he explained, as he set down the large bag he’d been carrying; it looked like it contained sports supplies, Hinata thought but in fact, when Ukai pulled the zipper down, he saw silver glints inside and realized it was full of weapons; large and small swords, a bunch of guns, even a bow and arrows and a lance with a beautiful curved blade at the end that Hinata recognized as a _naginata_. Ukai gave Kageyama a light one-handed sword, and Tsukishima a larger, two-handed one. Yamaguchi received the bow and the arrows – he seemed kind of excited about it, it was cute, Hinata thought – and he got to keep the beautiful naginata, which he felt pretty excited about himself. He grinned at Kageyama, who gave him a little smile back. “I want you to explore until you find the stairs – but don’t go up, okay? Once you find the stairs, return to the entrance at once. You’ll find a green platform that will teleport you here, so that you don’t have to run all the way back to the entrance. Is that clear?”

“Teleportation?” Tsukishima seemed skeptical. “How does that work?”

“How does the Dark Hour work?” Ukai’s reply was disdainful. “If you wanna investigate and then explain it to me, be my guest. You guys ready?”

“Yes” Kageyama replied before Tsukishima could protest again; the blond boy sighed in annoyance. Ukai stared at them for a moment, and then walked forward and handed Kageyama a small black transmitter.

“Kageyama, I want you to lead your partners, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Wait, why are you appointing him as the leader?” Tsukishima spoke again; Hinata felt anger slowly building up inside him. He couldn’t stand Tsukishima’s voice, it was as bothersome as nails on a chalkboard to him. “Just because he knows more for some strange reason…?”

“No” Ukai cut him off again. Kageyama didn’t even react, even though it was him they were talking about. He seemed not to mind. “I picked him because he’s the most reliable in battle. He’s fought the shadows before and he obviously has no trouble summoning his Persona. Can you guys say the same for yourselves?”

That closed the discussion. Kageyama turned and began walking towards the stairs, Hinata by his side. Tsukishima was obviously unhappy, but he still followed them up the stairs, Yamaguchi trailing after him. Hinata stayed very close to Kageyama as they crossed the clock-shaped portal, but he felt nobody had been ready for what they found on the other side. Hinata and Yamaguchi both let out equally terrified cries; Kageyama and Tsukishima merely exchanged a quick look, both of them frowning. Gone was the white glow that seemed to envelop the majestic first floor of Tartarus; beyond the golden portal there was a long dark corridor. The dark walls emitted a faint green glow, much like everything else during the Dark Hour, and the floor was checkered just like the one at the entrance, only darker and stained with blood in places. Kageyama was the first to recover from the impact, and he began walking, the only sign of fear being the way he held his sword at the ready, hand too tight around the handle.

_“Be careful, everyone”_ Kiyoko’s voice, full of static, came through the transmitter then, making them all give a start. _“I sense a shadow just around the corner. It’s a small one, but be careful.”_

Hinata had already seen a shadow, and a much more menacing one at that, but he still felt his heart begin to speed up as he followed Kageyama around the corner and came face to face with the shadow; it was eerily similar to the one that had attacked them a few nights ago, only much, much smaller; a blob of black with two puny little hands and a blue mask-like face stuck in an expression of fear, or maybe sadness. The shadow stood still for a moment, but as soon as Kageyama took a careful step forward, it seemed to notice them and it hurried towards them, sliding over the floor like a deformed snail. It would’ve been comical, hadn’t Hinata been so terrified of that nasty black blob. He took a step back, clutching his naginata, more conscious than ever of his own uselessness and vulnerability. Yamaguchi screamed and began running in the opposite direction, and Hinata could see Tsukishima reaching for his Evoker but stopping just before he grabbed it, hand trembling.

There was a loud clinking sound as Kageyama swiped at the shadow with his sword, with such force that the black blob got knocked back. Persistently, it began crawling towards them again, but Kageyama was ready. In one swift movement he pulled out his Evoker, took aim at his own head and fired. The image was horrifying, Hinata thought, except for the fact that there was no blood, no bang and no wet sounds as the bullet pierced the brain; just a crashing noise, like a thin glass breaking, and a bluish white light engulfed Kageyama as his Persona materialized in front of him.

It looked different than last time, Hinata observed; it somehow looked… kinder. Gone were the coffins and the skull-like mask. Kageyama’s Persona now looked like a warrior of sorts, a man wearing black armor, dark grey boots and gloves, and a golden helmet. Large golden wings emerged from his boots, and smaller ones from his helmet, and it reminded Hinata of some Greek god or other – he couldn’t quite remember until Kageyama called his Persona forward.

“ _Hermes_!”

Kageyama’s Persona – _Hermes_ – responded, letting out a sharp cry as a small fireball engulfed the shadow, effectively killing it. Hermes faded away, and Kageyama was left standing there, trembling slightly. Hinata rushed to his side, worried he would faint again, but after taking a deep breath, the boy seemed to regain his composure.

“The corridor’s clear. Let’s go.”

The fights after that went much more smoothly; at least, Hinata managed to hit a shadow on what he supposed was its head with his naginata. Yamaguchi didn’t properly fight but, after a few encounters, he began showing less fear; all the shadows they encountered were like the first one, ugly black blobs with blue faces, and they weren’t all that scary after you’d killed a dozen of them or so. Tsukishima even managed to summon his Persona once; it was shaped like a man with white hair, wearing a red scarf, white gloves and white boots, his body covered in blue, green, red and yellow swirls. A golden rod hung from a thread around his neck and shoulder. Hinata could only wonder what his own Persona would look like as Tsukishima’s _Dionysius_ vanished, leaving his user too tired to fight any longer. After that, they found the stairs just around the corner and reported back to Kiyoko, who told them to find the teleporting device and return to the first floor. The green platform was at the end of a short corridor right across from the stairs, and as soon as Kageyama activated it, a white glow engulfed them and when Hinata opened his eyes again, they were back in the circular room. Kiyoko seemed relieved to see them, and Ukai gave them a smile for the first time since Hinata had met him.

“You did well, guys. Were you scared?”

Hinata and Yamaguchi immediately nodded; Tsukishima hesitated a little before shrugging and then nodding, very evidently against his will. Kageyama didn’t answer until the blond man spoke again:

“Kageyama?”

Kageyama seemed hesitant as well, but after a short pause, he shook his head once, only slightly, as if hoping nobody would notice. They all did, however, and Ukai placed a hand on the black-haired boy’s shoulder.

“That’s good! Then I was right to pick you as the leader. Let’s head back now, okay? You all look tired.”

They hadn’t spent that long inside Tartarus, so Hinata wasn’t sure just how tired they could be but, as they made their way back to the dormitory, he felt as though his energy was being drained. As they walked down the monorail tracks, back to Iwatodai Station, he simply collapsed, too exhausted to take another step. His head was spinning and he felt as though his limbs were made of lead. He wasn’t even surprised as someone picked him up into his arms and began walking again, carrying him; he didn’t need to open his eyes to know who it was, and he contently rested his head against a warm chest and sighed.

He felt he was in a safe place, the safest, warmest, most comfortable place in the world.

“Hey. Don’t fall asleep, you dumbass” a well-known voice whispered next to his ear, and he could swear its tone held a hint of affection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References:
> 
> Tartarus - http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080927003705/megamitensei/images/b/ba/P3-Tartarus.jpg
> 
> Kageyama's Persona - http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090209132915/megamitensei/images/7/76/P3-Hermes.jpg
> 
> Tsukishima's Persona - http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110928004322/megamitensei/images/a/a2/Dionysius.jpg


	9. 04.21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “From that moment on, all I could think of was my death. I knew I would die."
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Kageyama explains mostly everything and Hinata makes a promise he doesn't know if he can keep, but hell, he will try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, finally, I'm able to return to this. December was hectic, but I'm finally on holidays - if you're still reading this, then expect faster updates. That wasn't what I wanted to say - but the word escapes me right now. You know what I mean. The important thing is that this hasn't been abandoned, alright? I was just busy. And then more busy. And then sick. Sometimes life just gets in the way.
> 
> Not the longest nor the best chapter but I needed to get this out of the way. The story will move a lot faster after this! Finally, woo!

Hinata visited the Velvet Room in his dreams again that night; this time, when the blue inside of the large elevator materialized in front of his eyes, he found Kenma alone, sitting on Kuroo’s chair behind the desk and poking lazily at his cellphone. Hinata was honestly curious as to whom the assistant could be texting, but he chose not to ask. He took a step forward, and Kenma seemed to notice his presence, because he looked up from his phone and smiled very slightly, straightening up from his slightly curled position.

“Hey, Shouyou… It’s good to see you. I was wondering if we’d ever get to see you again.”

“You said I could come anytime I wanted, but you never told me how to get here” Hinata pouted, sitting down in front of the blond kid. Kenma put a finger to his lips in a pensive way, his other hand still holding the glowing phone.

“You mean you haven’t found the doors yet?”

“Doors?”

“Yeah. You haven’t looked for them?”

“N-Not really” Hinata blushed, feeling a little guilty; so it was his fault after all. “I didn’t know there were doors.”

“Yeah. I think there’s one at the shopping mall, but I could be mistaken. I always use the one at the foot of the tower. It only shows up during the Dark Hour, though.”

“The tower?” Hinata tilted his head a little. “You mean Tartarus?”

“That’s what it called?” Kenma seemed uninterested. “I should listen to Kuro more often.”

“But I’ve been to Tartarus” Hinata argued. “There was no door there!”

Kenma’s interest was piqued then; he looked up, golden eyes wide, and slowly set the phone down on the desk as he continued to stare at Hinata. It was slightly unnerving; Hinata felt he was being examined through X-ray or something similarly intrusive.

“You’ve been to Tartarus” Kenma repeated. “But you haven’t awakened to your potential yet, have you? How come you’re still alive?”

“Kageyama protected me” Hinata answered instantly; then he promptly covered his face with both hands and whined as he realized just how much of an embarrassing thing he’d blurted out. And there was no way to take it back, because he could hear Kenma snicker quietly and try to pretend he was clearing his throat. “D-Dammit… D-Don’t tell Kuroo I said that!”

“I don’t think he cares much” Kenma replied, leaning back on the chair nonchalantly. The smile was more evident on his face now than it had been when Hinata came in. “So Kageyama fought for you again.”

“N-Not just me! Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were there too!”

“Other Persona users?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Then the only one who needed protection was you. I think he cares about you, Hinata.”

Hinata put his hands down slowly, raising his head to meet Kenma’s gaze. The assistant was looking at him with mild interest; he was smart, Hinata realized, and he seemed much more talkative now that Kuroo wasn’t around. Maybe it was because Kuroo was older than them – or so Hinata thought – and he seemed like the kind of person who would make fun of others, but Hinata felt more at ease talking to Kenma about things like that when they were alone, too.

“I care about him… too” he mumbled uncertainly, but knowing deep inside it was the truth. From the moment he’d stepped off the train for the first time with the black-haired boy, his life had revolved around him at all times. Even then, as he spoke to Kenma in his state of half-dream, half-consciousness, Hinata’s major concern was Kageyama and his inexplicable reactions, his reckless bravery that could get him in trouble one day, and the haunted look in his eyes when he spoke of the things he just seemed to _know_ for no reason at all. “I’m really worried about him.”

“Has anything happened to him?” Kenma sounded honestly interested now; Hinata didn’t notice it, though, too busy recounting all the times he’d felt there was something off with his precious friend.

“I feel he’s hiding something from us… Something that’s worrying him. And his Persona has changed since the last time I saw it. He seemed happy about that.”

“His Persona’s changed? Has it become more powerful?”

Hinata considered the possibility for a moment, but he quickly shook his head.

“No, if anything it looks smaller and friendlier.”

“I see.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Kenma became restless; he probably thought Hinata was waiting for an answer, some kind of advice from him, who was supposed to know more than the redhead did. But the truth was Kenma didn’t know much more than Hinata did; he was still struggling to understand the Dark Hour and the shadows himself, and when it came to relationships, he suspected he knew even less than Hinata. So he shrugged a little and picked up his phone again; it hadn’t stopped vibrating on the desk all the while.

“Look, Shouyou, I’m no expert at this but maybe you should try to talk to him? I mean, you both obviously care about each other. A lot. And if there’s really something bothering him, he probably needs to talk to someone, and you’re the most obvious choice.”

“Yeah…” Hinata nodded softly, looking down. He wanted to help Kageyama… He wanted to protect him… It was all he wanted right then. He felt the need to awaken his potential more strongly than ever. He wanted to fight side by side with him. And then he wanted to chase away his fears and his worries in the ‘real’ world, too. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow, this can’t wait anymore. I need to know what’s happening. I-I mean, I’m in this for him, I deserve to know! And I really want to help him. I’ll talk to him” he stood up from the chair, and felt the edges of his vision start fading to black as Kenma looked up from his cellphone again and nodded once, smiling.

“Good luck. Make sure to look for those doors, alright? Bye, Shouyou.”

That was the last Hinata heard before slipping into unconsciousness. When he woke up to the sound of his phone’s alarm, hours later, he felt he hadn’t slept at all. Groggily he dragged himself through his morning routine and when he finally ventured out into the world, he found Kageyama sneezing in the corridor. He looked terribly tired and even a little sick; it didn’t help his worry one single bit to see him in such a weakened state. He didn’t want Kageyama to end up in the hospital again.

Kageyama still insisted on going to class, so off they went, with Tanaka shooting both of them worried sidelong glances when they leaned against each other and fell asleep while riding the train. Hinata fell asleep again at some point during his morning lessons and only woke up when the bell for lunchtime rang and he felt a gentle grip on his shoulder and someone softly shaking him. Kageyama looked even worse than he had that morning, so after he refused to go to the nurse’s office, Hinata dragged him up to the roof where they usually had lunch and forced him to lie down on the concrete bench. Kageyama’s cheeks went bright red when Hinata forced him to lay his head down on his lap.

“H-Hey, you idiot… W-What do you think you’re doing…?”

“You need to rest” Hinata said firmly. “Your condition will only worsen if you don’t take a nap. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go back to class.”

“I can’t sleep here” Kageyama sounded uncomfortable. “Seriously, Hinata…”

“Hey” Hinata cut him off; he wasn’t really listening. Mindlessly, he ran his fingers through Kageyama’s hair; it felt like the natural thing to do when the taller boy was lying down like that, with his head on Hinata’s lap. His black hair was silk-soft and pleasant to the touch; it gave Hinata a soothing feeling to touch it. He felt comfortable enough to say what he’d been trying to say all morning. “When we get home… I want to talk to you.”

“I know” Kageyama’s eyes were slipping closed helplessly; he seemed to have relaxed a whole lot. Even his voice was calm and soft, like he was almost asleep. “It’s fine…”

“Is it?”

Kageyama didn’t reply. Hinata smiled to himself and looked up at the sky; it was clear blue, with a few large, fluffy white clouds floating just above them. A gentle spring breeze blew over them; it was a perfect day, he thought. And with Kageyama sleeping on his lap, breathing softly and steadily, it felt a little more perfect. He wouldn't have minded that moment to last much longer; he thought about his talk with Kenma and realized that yes, he cared; he cared so much, maybe a little too much, about the sleeping boy whose head rested on his lap so comfortably. The connection they shared was getting stronger with every moment they spent together, every time Kageyama put his life in the line for him, every side glance Hinata shot him to discover that sad look in his eyes only he knew.

“I’ll protect you” he whispered as he ran his fingers through Kageyama’s hair again and hoped the bell would never ring.

When they met up after school, Kageyama looked much better; as they walked to the station he confessed he’d fallen asleep during the afternoon classes; he knew it wasn’t right of him, but he’d been way too tired. Hinata had barely managed to stay awake and felt exhausted, even a little bit sick himself. He trembled when they got off the bus at Iwatodai station and, despite his desperate protests, Kageyama took off his uniform jacket and draped it over his shoulders. Hinata could barely speak while they ate a burger and fries – they had to give the takoyaki stand a rest – and whenever Kageyama asked if he was okay, he blushed up to the roots of his hair and changed the subject blatantly. After a while, Kageyama simply gave up on trying to understand him and just walked next to him in silence for the rest of the way.

In a sort of silent agreement, they nodded to Kiyoko’s greetings – she was the only one in the lounge at the moment, and she seemed to be reading a novel – and went upstairs to Kageyama’s room. For some reason their little secret meetings always seemed to take place there. Hinata plopped down on Kageyama’s bed without asking, and when the other boy gave him a reproachful look, he put on the best puppy eyes he could muster.

“Just a minute?”

Kageyama blushed and relented immediately.

“Alright.”

Hinata smiled at him as a silent thank you and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, feeling lightheaded and groggy, the room was dark and Kageyama was lying next to him, sleeping soundly. When Hinata began shifting to try to sit up and look out the window, the black-haired boy slowly stirred awake and blinked up at him in a daze.

“Hinata…?”

“It’s dark outside” Hinata mumbled. “Guess we fell asleep.”

“Yeah” Kageyama sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and stifling a yawn. “What time is it?”

“Not the Dark Hour.”

“Good enough.”

For a long moment, they sat together in silence, listening to the faint sounds from outside; a group of students chatting and laughing as they walked past the door, a car driving slowly down the road, the barking of someone’s pet dog. Hinata almost regretted having to break the peaceful moment to ask about things that would probably be painful and awkward to talk about – because when someone hid something from the rest, it was probably either painful or awkward, or both – but luckily for him, it was Kageyama who once again came to the rescue and brought up the subject.

“So, you said you wanted to talk to me, right?”

“Yes…”

Their eyes didn’t meet; both of them were still gazing out the window as they spoke quietly.

“I feel you’re hiding things from me, many things – and I want to know. I want to help you.”

Kageyama snorted – almost as if he were trying not to laugh.

“I’ll tell you – but don’t expect to be able to help me.”

Hinata pried his eyes from the window to stare at his friend. Kageyama didn’t look at him; there was a shadow in his eyes, the look Hinata had identified as the ‘haunted look’, and finally, he’d find out exactly what it was that was haunting Kageyama. He stayed silent, waiting for the black-haired boy to decide when to speak and where to start; and after a few minutes, Kageyama began talking.

“When I was in my first year in middle school, I met this person. Oikawa Tooru.

“He was a third-year I admired. He was the captain of the volleyball team and he was an amazing player. I wanted to learn from him, so that I could improve my own skills but, for some reason, he disliked me. He did everything in his power to make me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, he never helped me when I asked him and ignored me when I tried to talk to him. His friend always told me not to take him too seriously, that he was an idiot, but I was a kid and I guess I took it really hard. I dedicated my time in the club to observe him and learn from him, whether he wanted me to or not. And I did learn a lot from him; I learnt many things, but most of them had nothing to do with volleyball.

“On the day he graduated, he called out to me after the ceremony. I was surprised; we’d hardly ever spoken and most of the times, it was me asking things and him making fun of me and never answering. But I still hoped to be acknowledged by the senpai I admired, so I followed him up to the roof of our school. We were alone there; I remember I felt a little nervous, but I was curious. What could he want from me? He laughed at me because he noticed I was anxious, and began _explaining_.

“That was when I realized I’d made a mistake following him there.

“I can’t remember everything he told me; I was in a daze as he spoke of the most dreadful things. That the world was full of hatred, that the reckoning would come soon; he really frightened me. It sounded like the kind of scary nonsense you hear from villains on TV, or crazy extremely religious people. I stepped back and told him I didn’t want to hear anything more. He didn’t listen; he told me about the shadows, the Dark Hour and the arrival of _Nyx_ , supposedly the being that would bring apocalypse. I remember I was shaking and I told him I wanted to go home. He grabbed my shoulder and smiled, and I remember very clearly that he asked me to hold onto something until the _right time_ came. He pressed his free hand to my chest, and I felt the most horrible pain I’d ever felt in my life. He told me that when the right time came, he would reclaim what he’d given me, and he would kill me. I passed out and when I woke up, Oikawa was gone – but that _thing_ , the _thing_ he’d given me, was still there. I could _feel_ it in me, merging with me, with my mind. Not a Persona, but a shadow; the shadow of Death. And I knew that no matter what I did, when the right time came, I would die.

“From that moment on, all I could think of was my death. I knew I would die. But not like everyone knows it; my death was something I could actually feel. Not some faraway fantasy or fleeting thought; the knowledge I will die is still heavy in my mind.”

Hinata felt cold; as though his heart had stopped beating and his blood had stopped flowing. He felt an oppression in his chest, as though someone was pushing a large hand against his ribcage; he thought of little Kageyama standing before this person, this person who’d spoken to him of death and imposed _something_ on him. And that something – that Shadow – still haunted him.

“For years, I tried to find any information I could – about the Shadows, the Dark Hour, Nyx – but I found nothing. My only source of information was Oikawa, and I didn’t want to talk to him. He still contacted me sometimes. It was thanks to him I found out about Karasuno’s S.E.E.S. and decided to join them. It’s not that I think that will save me, but if it can save the rest of the world – then it’ll be worth it even if I die.”

Finally, Kageyama turned his head to face him. Hinata was surprised, and relieved, to find the haunted look was no longer there. There was decision in Kageyama’s eyes, a resolution that he’d never seen in them before. It shook him to his very core that someone could be so selfless, and so brave.

“So…” he spoke quietly; any word he spoke to Kageyama, he felt, sounded childish and ridiculous. “That creature you summoned that time… It wasn’t your Persona, but the Shadow, right?”

“Yeah. I felt that same pain in my chest when it appeared. That’s why I was relieved when I summoned Hermes and didn’t feel anything; the Shadow isn’t me. I’m glad.”

Hinata blinked at him; he wasn’t sure he understood, but if it made Kageyama happy, then it was good.

“Great! Hum… And that time at Paulownia Mall… The thing you saw that scared you…”

“It was him” Kageyama nodded, his face becoming somber. “He was there – Oikawa. I confronted him at the Moonlight Bridge last full moon. That was when he set that large shadow after me.”

“So that’s what you were doing there.”

“Yeah. It was a stupid thing to do.”

“I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

“Yeah…”

Both of them fell quiet after that, both turning to stare out the window again. The image of a scared younger Kageyama backing away from that monster of a person mixed it with the determined look in his eyes now, and Hinata could only admire him for that. And Kageyama had chosen to confide in him, to tell him something so incredibly important and painful… Hinata could almost physically feel the bond between them becoming stronger.

“Don’t worry” he whispered. “I won’t tell anybody.”

Kageyama nodded; his face was unreadable. His expression faltered a little, however, as Hinata spoke again.

“We’ll find a way – I’ll save you. I won’t let you die.”

Hinata didn’t turn when he felt Kageyama shifting next to him; he didn’t move as the taller boy buried his face in the juncture between his neck and shoulder. And when he felt him begin sobbing quietly, he didn’t say anything, either.


	10. 05.09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re precious to Hinata. He would die for you, so make sure to keep him alive.”
> 
> \---
> 
> In which Hinata finds his resolve and shoots himself in the head for love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a super-long chapter full of happenings. I guess. Hope this will make up for the slow pace and all the backstory.
> 
> Notes on Personas/Shadows at the end. Dedicated to Eme, she knows what for. Sorry if it's not up to expectations.
> 
> All aboard the Nope Train!

From then on, Hinata’s life fell into a surprisingly comfortable routine. He got up in the morning, sometimes to the sound of Kageyama banging on his door because he accidentally pushed the snooze button on his alarm clock, sometimes to the sound of his alarm clock, and then he’d promptly rush to wake Kageyama up himself and get even. If he was feeling especially generous, or the night had been especially rough, or he got thinking too much about some things, he’d bring his friend breakfast in bed, as there was an unsaid rule between them that Hinata could go into Kageyama’s room anytime he wanted, while the opposite wasn’t necessarily true. They bickered some, got dressed, bickered some more, and then took the train with Tanaka to school. Sometimes Tsukishima and Yamaguchi joined them; Tsukishima was mostly quiet as he went along with them, but Yamaguchi always tried to make small talk, and Hinata found he was actually quite likable. When they got to school, he went upstairs with Kageyama and chatted with him in the corridor until it was time for class. Hinata always tried to stay awake and focused, but sometimes he’d just nap; Kageyama would come looking for him around lunchtime, and they went up to the roof, or outside, and had lunch together. Sometimes Kageyama napped with his head on Hinata’s lap, and Hinata watched over him patiently. When the bell for afternoon classes rang, he’d gently nudge him awake and chuckle at his sleepy face. Afternoon classes always seemed to take longer because after them always came Hinata’s favorite time: club activities. The volleyball club started training a couple days after they went to Tartarus for the first time, and Hinata was surprised to find the members of S.E.E.S. took volleyball as seriously as fighting shadows.

“It’s important to train our bodies, you know” Sugawara whispered to him and Kageyama the first time they showed up at the gym. “So give it your all, okay?”

Hinata and Kageyama had no trouble with that. Club activities usually took place two or three times a week, but the volleyball club met every day and through it was tiring, Hinata couldn’t be happier; he was finally playing volleyball at Karasuno, where he’d always wanted to be, and with Kageyama, who was an incredible setter. After practice, the team usually went for takoyaki, or fast food, or ramen, before each of them returned to their homes or dorms. Hinata usually hung out in Kageyama’s room, playing videogames or studying or just chatting about anything and everything until the Dark Hour came around. Ukai always showed up a little after eleven p.m., when he closed his store, to make sure everyone was in good condition before taking them to Tartarus. Hinata always stuck with Kageyama, no matter who else accompanied them, and he could see Kageyama stealing glances at him every now and then, watching him, always making sure he was okay. Ukai had even been kind enough to give him a backpack full of different items, mostly healing items, so he could help Kageyama and the others in battle. He always made sure to heal Kageyama first, even if he’d only taken a weak blow, and Kageyama never failed to scold him for wasting precious items. When they got tired, they returned to the entrance using the strange green devices scattered unevenly across the floors – which seemed to change their layout every time they stepped inside – and headed back for the night. They went to bed as soon as they arrived to the dorm, and woke up in the morning to go to school. The routine went on day after day; they felt tired, they laughed, they ate, they studied. Everything was their version of a normal school life.

It was as if his conversation with Kageyama had never happened. Their daily life went on and it was easy to forget about the things Kageyama had told him; only sometimes, when he caught Kageyama staring out the window with melancholic eyes, or saw him sleeping in a fetal position as he went to wake him up, he remembered this person knew exactly when and how he would die. Hinata couldn’t imagine living with that weight in his mind; still, Kageyama woke up every morning and went to school and bickered with him and played volleyball and sometimes even smiled or laughed a little. He _lived_ ; every day, Kageyama _lived._

Hinata admired him so much it hurt physically.

That morning, as they walked to school, they heard a bunch of girls whispering nearby; apparently, they were planning to go to the beach that night. Hinata listened to their chat idly, not really paying attention but not quite ignoring them either.

“Tonight’s a full moon, right?” a short girl with glasses giggled. “I could bring my telescope!”

“We’re planning a night out, not a science class!” her friends quickly berated her. Hinata didn’t think much of it until he heard Kageyama mumbling next to him.

“Full moon… huh.”

“Yeah, it seems” Hinata blinked up at him. He’d never been one to pay attention to the moon calendar, and he didn’t think Kageyama did, either. However, the taller boy seemed somewhat concerned. “Why? You’re not a werewolf, are you?”

“Are you an idiot?” Kageyama huffed, his worried air dissipating in favor of an expression of pure annoyance. “Of course not. But the night Oikawa attacked me last time at the bridge was a full moon, too. It gives me the creeps.”

It was the first time either of them mentioned anything about Oikawa and Kageyama’s past since their talk a few days ago. Kageyama saying that person’s name suddenly made everything real again, like a visible dark cloud in the horizon. Hinata had to make a huge effort not to show how affected he was by that.

“Let’s stay home tonight” he suggested. “We can have greasy pizza and watch a bad movie and go to bed early.”

He thought Kageyama would refuse, but after a moment’s consideration, the taller boy nodded.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

Hinata couldn’t stop thinking about it all through the day. He tried not to think what would happen if Oikawa showed up again; what if he’d decided it was time and tried to kill Kageyama? He convinced his friend to stay inside the school during lunchtime and stuck close to him until the bell rang; he felt incredibly relieved when Kageyama picked him up after school, and he only accepted to stop for a bowl of ramen on the way back because both their stomachs were growling. He wanted to get to the dorm as soon as possible, he felt Kageyama would be safer there. He couldn’t shake off the feeling they were being watched, followed, that something bad was about to happen, and it made him all the more desperate to protect his friend.

They stayed up until the Dark Hour out of instinct, but when Ukai arrived to take them to Tartarus, Hinata approached him somewhat sheepishly.

“Coach Ukai… Hum… Kageyama and I are a bit tired today, can we stay home?”

It was the first time any of them asked to stay behind – normally, it was Ukai who decided who could or couldn’t go based on their physical and mental condition – but their trainer didn’t seem to have anything against it. He nodded and gave Hinata a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“No problem. You two go to bed, then.”

“Thank you!”

But just as the rest of the team was getting ready to head out, they heard quick footsteps coming down the stairs, and all heads turned to see Kiyoko standing there, looking somewhat troubled, a hand held over her chest nervously.

“Guys…” she spoke softly. Daichi and Sugawara stepped forward and approached her, evidently worried about her distraught expression.

“What’s the matter, Kiyoko?”

“Are you okay?”

“I sensed a shadow” she explained, trying to keep her voice steady. “It’s a large one, and it’s outside Tartarus.”

Silence followed the news. Hinata glanced at Kageyama, who was tense by his side; they were probably both thinking the same thing, a large shadow outside Tartarus could only mean one thing to them. Tsukishima looked at Kageyama as well, but thankfully, he either noticed his troubled state of mind or decided to save the remarks for later, because he said nothing. It was Ukai who spoke first.

“Where is it?”

“It’s somewhere around Iwatodai Station” Kiyoko replied nervously. “I can’t locate exactly where, though… I’d have to be near the station to get a clearer reading. I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay” Daichi nodded reassuringly. “You did well, Kiyoko. Let’s head to the station and look for it.”

Although Hinata still wanted to stay behind, he didn’t even try convincing Kageyama to do that; he knew the black-haired boy would want to go, and in a silent agreement they followed the rest of the group outside, into the shadows of the Dark Hour. The full moon in the horizon was gigantic and phantasmagoric, casting it’s sickly green light over the darkened, bloodied streets. The breeze felt a bit chillier than it should’ve been, and Hinata could feel his heart pounding in his chest with every step he took, so loud that he worried everyone else could hear it. He clamped a hand over his chest as though that could remedy anything, and he stuck close to Kageyama, feeling more exposed than he usually did, his free hand stuck in the pocket of his jacket, tracing the letters carved on his Evoker. He felt better carrying it even though he still couldn’t use it.

He felt like it took them a lot longer than it should to walk the relatively short distance between the dorm and Iwatodai Station. They stood in front of the closed shops, right across the terminal building, and Kiyoko took a moment to focus and search the area for the large shadow; when she opened her eyes again, she seemed decided.

“It’s definitely inside the station! I can’t tell exactly where inside, but I’m sure it’s somewhere in there!”

“That’s all the information we need!” Tanaka gave her a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, Kiyoko-san! We’ll handle it from here!”

They left Kiyoko outside the station, so she could provide them with backup from a safe spot, with Ukai watching over her. Hinata followed Kageyama and the rest of the group inside; the station was dark and cold inside, and it reminded Hinata of the night he and Kageyama arrived to the dorm. Daichi, Sugawara and Tanaka led the way down the hallway, and they stopped by the rails, where a train had stopped shortly before the Dark Hour, and still hadn’t moved, frozen in time. Through the open door Hinata could see a bunch of coffins and bloodstains inside. It was just as revolting as ever.

“Listen” Sugawara spoke to the first years. “We don’t know where the shadow is, or whether it’s moving around the station or stuck in one place. Daichi, Tanaka and I are going to look around; I want the four of you to stay here and guard the corridors and the front door. If you see the shadow, call for us and hold it back until we get here. Is that clear?”

Although he spoke to all of them, as he finished giving his orders he fixed his gaze on Kageyama, who nodded in agreement.

“Okay.”

“Be careful. And remember, call for us if you get in trouble.”

The three older students left then, holding their weapons at the ready as they ran into the darkness ahead. The first-years were tense at first, being left alone in a dangerous place, but as the minutes went by and there was no sign of the shadow, they gradually began relaxing. Feeling fidgety standing in one place for too long, Hinata wandered into the open car of the train, looking around at the coffins, with their luggage lying by their feet. They had probably gotten up off their seats and picked up their bags and boxes, ready to get off the train, just as the clock struck midnight. Hinata tried to imagine what kind of people were in each coffin as he walked down the aisle; there was a coffin with a suitcase – maybe the same businessman that had travelled with Kageyama and him? – and two coffins on the same seat, side by side – a couple, maybe? – and three coffins with a bunch of bags – maybe a family? Vaguely, he heard Kageyama calling for him to come back, but he ignored him; he could see them through the windows and everything was fine, what was the problem? Just as he was inspecting a coffin, trying to find clues as to what kind of person was inside, he thought he saw something move in the next car. He felt a pang of fear in the pit of his stomach as he slowly went to peek into the car; the last thing he saw was a blob of black pouncing on him, and next thing he knew he was on the floor, breathing hard, a dull ache on the back of his head where he’d slammed it against the seats.

“K-Kageyama!!”

It was a shadow; not the large one they were looking for, but three smaller, ugly ones, shaped like ghosts and crosses and things Hinata didn’t want to see, because they only made him think of death. He didn’t even think of using his sword, which lay discarded by his side; he could only cover his face with both arms, as if that would do any good. One of the ghost shadows scratched his arm; it was deep and it burned, and Hinata could feel the disgusting warmth of his own blood as it dripped, thick and dark, down his forearm and elbow, staining his pants as he curled up into a ball, wetting his fingers as he clutched the wounded arm. The searing pain wasn’t as bad as thinking he would be attacked to death by those weak shadows, unable to defend himself, vulnerable, exposed, useless…

_And alone._

“KAGEYAMA! KAGEYAMA!!”

A second shadow attacked; Hinata couldn’t see it, but he felt his leg burning and screamed; and then, he heard a soft crashing sound, like a delicate crystal breaking, and he raised his tear-filled eyes just in time to see a winged Persona charge against the three Shadows, eliminating them quickly. When everything faded, he saw Kageyama standing before him, sweat dripping down his unusually pale face.

“YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” the black-haired boy cried out, as Hinata simply trembled and watched him tremble as well. “Don’t ever fucking do this again! Don’t go off on your own if you can’t fight, you stupid dumbass!”

Hinata looked up at him helplessly, too shocked by the attack and Kageyama’s reaction to give a proper reply; besides, Kageyama was right. He’d been too careless, and now he was wounded because of it. Kageyama kneeled in front of him and dropped his heavy sword, rummaging through their little bag of medicines. He used some of the healing ointment to treat the burn on Hinata’s leg, then ripped a piece of his sleeve to wrap the bleeding wound on his arm. Hinata watched Kageyama’s face as he worked on his wounds; and he realized, somewhat alarmingly, that he’d never felt such a strong desire to _kiss_ anyone before. It was a new, scary, exciting thought. Kageyama pulled back when he was done, standing up again, and he offered Hinata a hand; his hand was warm when Hinata took it, and he felt his heart pounding even though he wasn’t really scared anymore.

“I’m sorry” he blurted out. “I shouldn’t have… gone off on my own. I’m sorry.”

Kageyama glared at him for a moment longer; then, he sighed, his expression relaxing, and he ruffled Hinata’s hair softly.

“You dumbass. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“What’s taking you two so long?” Tsukishima’s voice interrupted then; Hinata turned to see the tall blond boy walking into the train, followed closely by a very fearful-looking Yamaguchi. The shy boy let out a soft gasp when he saw Hinata’s wounds.

“What happened to you?!”

“I-I got attacked by a shadow. But it was a small one, so it’s okay.”

“I don’t know why you keep insisting on tagging along” Tsukishima huffed. “You’re a burden.”

“Nobody’s asking you for help” Kageyama snarled back, and Hinata didn’t miss how the black-haired boy seemed to move so he was standing between him and Tsukishima, as a sort of human shield. “What makes you think I need the help of someone like you?”

Tsukishima took a step forward, ready to retaliate, but a loud clang somewhere at the back of the car interrupted him, and the blond boy almost lost his balance as a panicked Yamaguchi flung himself at his back.

“T-Tsukki! The door! The door closed by itself!!”

“What?”

The four of them turned at once; the automatic door of the car, which had been wide open just a moment ago, was closed. Before any of them could process what was happening, the car shook violently and as Hinata steadied himself, clinging to Kageyama’s arm with his unhurt one, he looked out the window just in time to see the station moving, faster and faster, until it was out of sight. The train was moving fast, and soon they left the station, the sight of the sky and the darkened city surrounding them, green light streaming into the car.

“What’s going on?!” Hinata whined. He’d never been afraid of trains in his life before, but if he recalled correctly…

“…M-Machines don’t work during the Dark Hour” Tsukishima whispered; for the first time he could remember, Hinata heard his voice shake. “This shouldn’t be happening… This can’t be happening…”

“Well it _is_ happening” Kageyama looked around in a frenzy. He seemed just as confused as the rest of them, but Hinata could almost see the gears turning in his head as he looked for a way out. They couldn’t jump off the train, they were going too fast; their only chance was to get the train to stop. But how stop something that shouldn’t be moving in the first place?

A sudden screeching sound startled them, Yamaguchi whimpering and hiding behind Tsukishima as Kageyama pulled out the offending device from his pocket; the radio Kiyoko had given them.

_“Kageyama! Kageyama, can you hear me?”_

“Kiyoko-san” Kageyama replied, keeping his voice surprisingly steady for the situation they were in.

 _“I’ve finally located the large shadow”_ she explained; her voice was blurred and surrounded by white noise, but still audible. _“It’s in the front car of the train. The shadow must be controlling the train to make it move!”_

“I didn’t know shadows could drive” Hinata mumbled, realizing almost immediately he’d said something stupid; still, Tsukishima snorted a laugh against his will, so he considered it a small victory despite Kageyama’s glare telling him _you’re a fucking dumbass._

 _“You need to defeat the shadow, quick!”_ Kiyoko told them. _“Otherwise you’ll crash into another train. Please, hurry!”_

“Okay” Kageyama nodded, and slipped the radio back into his pocket. He turned to face the other three boys present, and sighed: “We’re alone in this. We have to move, c’mon.”

For once, nobody questioned Kageyama’s leadership; he led the way to the next car with Hinata on tow, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi running after them, weapons and Evokers at the ready. They found another shadow in the next car, and two more in the next one, and two more in the next; all of them shaped in the form of heavily ornamented black crosses, or grey ghosts with large crowns on their heads. They weren’t strong, and it wasn’t hard for Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to fight them off, but it did make them spend their energy, and their time, on things other than their main objective. When they finally reached the front car, Kiyoko contacted them again, just as Kageyama reached for the door.

_“Guys, the shadow is in the next car. Please, hurry up! You don’t have much time!”_

Kageyama hesitated, and glanced towards Hinata.

“Are you ready?” he mumbled. Hinata had no idea why Kageyama was asking _him_ , of all people, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Ready.”

“Let’s go, then.”

The door opened with a swooshing sound, and they found themselves face to face with the largest Shadow they’d encountered so far.

It was shaped like a woman, bare except for a sort of white skirt covering it from the waist down. It was half black, half white, and its expressionless face was covered by a fancy pink mask. Its hair, also black and white, flared out from its head in all directions. It sat with its legs spread in a sort of lewd position, blocking their access to the controls that would allow them to stop the train. They had no choice but to fight.

Kageyama attacked first; the shadow winced and whined in a feminine voice as his fire attack reached it. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi followed, using their electric and fire skills respectively, while Hinata crawled behind the last row of seats and crouched there, watching the messy fight from a relatively safe distance – not that he could go too far, the car wasn’t exactly large while the shadow definitely was. Hinata watched as the shadow quickly retaliated with an ice-based attack that struck his three friends at once. Kageyama and Tsukishima endured it stoically, but Yamaguchi collapsed to the floor with a yelp, distracting them both.

“O-Ow…!”

“You okay?” Tsukishima mumbled, but as he went to help him up, Hinata saw two more shadows appearing; two of those ghosts with crowns he’d seen before, which went to attack as soon as they were summoned by the larger shadow.

“Look out, Tsukishima!”

“Tsukki…!”

Kageyama stepped in then, taking both the ghosts’ attacks; he got hit in the chest, and his left shoulder received a very mild burn, but other than that, he withstood the attack, too. Tsukishima and him made quick work of eliminating the ghosts and went to focus on the larger shadow, but it kept summoning up more and more minions, and using its ice attacks; soon they were down to two fighters, as Yamaguchi’s health was drained due to his Persona’s weakness to ice attacks, and he fainted and didn’t get back up.

“Y-Yamaguchi!” Tsukishima went to help him, and one of the little ghosts struck him in the side, landing a critical hit; the blond fighter was flung into the back of the car and hit his head on the floor, collapsing right next to Hinata’s hiding spot. The small redhead curled up, trembling, as he saw a small trail of blood dripping from Tsukishima’s scalp.

“N-No…” shaking from head to toe, Hinata slowly got to his feet; Kageyama was the only one facing the large shadow now. He’d managed to take out the two small ghosts, but it was obvious his energy and health were dangerously low. As Hinata watched helplessly, the large shadow reached out and struck Kageyama, who didn’t have the strength to lift his heavy sword and protect himself. Hinata screamed as Kageyama collapsed, breathing heavily, the sword discarded by his feet. The black-haired boy twitched, weakly turning his head so he could see Hinata.

“Run” he whispered. “Get to the back of the train, quick… Hinata…”

“No” Hinata shook his head; he felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. If he ran away now, he could possibly save himself, but Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi would die from the crash. “N-No…!”

Kageyama sighed, and began struggling to get to his knees. His arms trembled just from having to support his weight.

“I have to keep fighting…” he kept mumbling to himself. “I can’t let him die here… I have to keep fighting…”

Time was probably running out, Hinata thought; He had no idea how long they had left, but it probably wasn’t long. Kageyama collapsed again with a cry – he wasn’t bleeding on the outside, but he was probably wounded – and he lied face down, breathing with difficulty. Hinata choked back a sob as the shadow moved again, to deliver the killing blow.

“Kageyama! Kageyama, get up!! KAGEYAMA, PLEASE!! GET UP!!”

But the black-haired boy didn’t answer. Hinata felt as though he was in a dream; it simply couldn’t be happening. Moving without really thinking, he jumped over the back of the seats he’d been hiding behind and rushed to the front of the car. Kageyama looked up at him weakly as he stood between him and the shadow, and he reached out to him.

“Hinata, no…”

“Don’t hurt him!” Hinata yelled at the shadow, as though it could understand his words. “Don’t touch him! I won’t let you hurt him anymore!”

“Hinata, get out of here!” Tsukishima called from the back; he was alive, and conscious, sitting with his back against the door as he tried to clear his head. “You can’t do anything, run!”

Hinata shook his head, trembling. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t leave things like that. He couldn’t let the train crash and people die, just because he was powerless. Hands shaking, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his Evoker. He pressed the tip to his forehead and shut his eyes tight. _I’ll protect everyone_ , he told himself. _I won’t let you die. I’ll protect you!_

“Hinata, hurry!” Kageyama screamed then, and Hinata’s eyes shot open as he pulled the trigger firmly.

“ _Persona…”_

He felt a slight piercing sensation in his skull, not quite painful but definitely unfamiliar, and then a sudden rush of energy and power, as though something had been unleashed inside of him. He saw light surrounding him and then, when he looked up, he saw an angel; or at least, that was the first thing that came to his mind when he saw his Persona for the first time. He looked surprisingly human; his body seemed to be covered in a white and light blue armor, with a large white lyre adorning his back like a pair of wings. His face was black, and his eyes were red; his hair was white and short, messy like Hinata’s, and he had a red scarf wrapped around his neck. He looked gentle and kind, and Hinata felt soothed as he looked up at him; in his mind, he could hear his Persona’s voice, talking to him from the depths of his own soul, as they were one and the same.

_“Thou art I… And I am thou… From the sea of thy soul I cometh… I am Orpheus, master of strings.”_

“Orpheus…” Hinata whispered, entranced by the beautiful appearance of his Persona. “Help me… Help everyone…”

Lying on the floor behind Hinata, Kageyama had a front-row seat to everything that was taking place; he watched in awe as Hinata summoned his own Persona for the very first time, and the angel-like creature charged against the shadow mercilessly; Hinata took a little damage, a few hits, but the shadow was obviously tired and Hinata’s energy seemed endless. Merely a minute later, the shadow finally let out a long, loud, piercing cry and writhed in agony, before disappearing in a cloud of black. Orpheus floated gently above them for a moment, and then vanished slowly. Kageyama saw what would happen before it did, and brought out the strength he didn’t have to get up on his knees and move to catch Hinata as he fainted.

For a moment, there was silence. And then, Yamaguchi’s voice reached them from somewhere in the middle of the car.

“The train…! The train is still moving!!”

Kageyama dragged Hinata out of the way as Tsukishima ran to the front of the car, quickly looking over the control panel. He bit his lip and shook his head, gripping his forehead in pain.

“I-It’s useless… I can’t make sense of this! I’m so sorry!”

“Get down” Kageyama called, holding onto Hinata’s unconscious body as though his life depended on it. “Quick, get down! We’re gonna crash!”

Tsukishima quickly crawled behind the first row of seats, hoping to protect himself from the impact. Kageyama couldn’t for the life of him hope to move himself and Hinata to the back of the car, so he placed him against the wall and covered him with his own body, hoping to at least protect him. He closed his eyes and got ready for the impact; he wasn’t afraid of dying, but he’d hoped it wouldn’t be that violent, and that Hinata wouldn’t be there as well…

And then the door in the back of the car flew open and an unfamiliar voice yelled.

“IS EVERYONE OKAY? KENMA, THE BRAKES!”

Kageyama turned his head so fast, his neck made a painful cracking sound. For a second, he thought he saw a beast pouncing on the control panel – a Persona? A shadow? – but then he realized it was just a boy, with blond hair and a red hoodie, who’d jumped on the panel. The train came to a sudden stop as the emergency brakes were activated, and Kageyama felt he could finally breathe normally again; or he would’ve, if he didn’t suspect he had a broken rib or something. Another person appeared on the scene then; a tall guy with wild black hair, who was looking down at Hinata and him with a worried expression on his face.

“You, kid. Is Hinata okay?”

“Y-Yes” Kageyama nodded, before wondering how this strange person knew Hinata. The blond kid approached them as well, kneeling next to him to examine the unconscious redhead.

“Did he use his Persona?”

“Yes…” Kageyama nodded again, looking down at Hinata’s face. He looked incredibly peaceful as he slept; Kageyama felt an overwhelming relief knowing he was okay. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but the thought that Hinata could die was too terrifying for him to bear. “He was… really amazing.”

“Can you carry him outside? We need to get back, it's dangerous to stay here when you're all wounded” the blond boy – Kenma – told him. Kageyama stood up with some difficulty and, making an impressive effort to ignore the pain in his chest, lifted Hinata up in his arms. The other guy, the one with the dark wild hair, was helping Tsukishima and Yamaguchi up; Tsukishima seemed dizzy, having hit his head, so the guy put an arm around him and helped him walk to the door. They dragged their feet to the back of the train, then walked down the rails back to the station, where the rest of the S.E.E.S. was waiting.

Kageyama felt breathing was slowly becoming more and more difficult, but he refused to let anyone else carry Hinata. He felt it had been close, too close; Oikawa wasn’t just looking to kill him, he was obviously willing to take as many of his friends as he could with him. And as much as Hinata wanted to help him, he couldn’t allow that.

“Take care of him” he heard a voice next to him; he looked down to find Kenma walking by his side. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were trailing behind, Tsukishima walking slowly, helped by the strange guy with black hair. He could hear them talking quietly, probably about what had happened. “You’re precious to Hinata. He would die for you, so make sure to keep him alive.”

Kageyama looked down at the redhead’s pale sleeping face and let out a small sigh.

“Don’t worry. He’s precious to me, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Large shadow, A.K.A. Arcana Priestess: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131117195230/megamitensei/images/6/6e/Shadow_Prietress_anime.jpg
> 
> Hinata's Persiona (Orpheus): http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141128234733/megamitensei/images/d/d7/Orpheus_fullsize.jpg


End file.
